Want to make your backyard more beautiful? Check out the 17th annual Southern Appalachian Landscape Seminar on April 30 in Blairsville, Ga. You'll find plenty of information there to help you do it.

This year's theme, "My Own Backyard," focuses on how you can easily enhance your private yard area without a lot of fuss or expense.

"The biggest landscaping problem people have is selecting the right plants," said Kathryn Litton of the Blairsville Garden Club, one of the seminar sponsors.

"You have to choose plants for where in your yard you want to put them, but also for the correct climate zone," she said. "In north Georgia, we're in zone 6. But many stores here feature plants for zone 7 that won't survive our cold winters."

The program will feature four speakers.

Eddie Rhoades, a Cobb County Master Gardener, will show how to personalize your garden with Southern yard art.

Walter Reeves, DeKalb County Extension agent and host of the No. 1-rated talk show in Atlanta, will show how to make a shade garden.

Tara Dillard of the Atlanta Botanical Garden will discuss landscaping in small spaces and container gardening.

And Barbara Allen, landscape and perennial garden designer of the Spruill Center for the Arts, will show how to create an elegant landscape with just a few steps.

Registration begins at 9 a.m., the program will begin at 10 a.m. A $15 registration fee includes lunch, refreshments, educational materials and door prizes.

Other seminar sponsors are the Ge orgia Mountain Experiment Station and Union County Extension Service.

Call the Georgia Mountain Experiment Station at (706) 745- 2655 for more information or to register in advance.