By Sharon Omahen
University of Georgia

If native plants, rare plants or wild flowers intrigue you, mark your calendar for the seventh annual South Georgia Native Plant and Wildflower Symposium March 28 in Tifton, Ga.

Conservation botanist Linda Chafin will update participants on rare plants of Georgia. She has conducted rare species surveys throughout the Southeast. The author of "The Field Guide to Rare Plants of Florida," she has now written a Georgia edition that will be released this year.

Nurseryman Tommy Dodd will discuss native plants from a grower's perspective. Born into a nursery family, Dodd has operated nurseries in Alabama and South Carolina.

University of Georgia professor Jim Hook will discuss water conservation from a south Georgia perspective. A leader in water use and conservation, Hook serves on many state, regional and national water planning groups.

Writer, naturalist and photographer Gil Nelson will cover wild flowers of the Southeastern coastal plain. Nelson is a field botanist at Florida State University's Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium.

The symposium will be at the National Environmentally Sound Production Agriculture Laboratory on the UGA campus in Tifton. It begins at 9:15 a.m. and ends with a 4 p.m. tour of the UGA Coastal Plain Arboretum.

Space is limited, so register early. The registration deadline is March 21. The fee is $20, with an optional lunch for another $7. For more information, call Amy Carter at (229) 386-7274. Or visit the Web site (www.nespal.org/wildflower).

The event is sponsored by the Garden Club of Georgia, Camellia District IV and the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.