It looked and smelled a lot like Spring at the Magnolia Center Saturday where some of the Jones County Master Gardeners showcased some of their favorite plants at Spring Garden Day 2009.

“We have about 25 master gardeners who have plants to sell,” said Janell Anderson, president. “These are plants they have all grown and brought here for this event.”

The event was held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and continues today from 1 to 4 p.m.

In addition to vendors and exhibitors, Spring Garden Day includes speakers who will give presentations on gardening and lawn care. Today’s scheduled speakers and topics are Wendy Wilkerson, a Jones County Junior College horticulturist, and Joan Messer, a local gardener. Wilkerson will share tips about landscaping, while Messer will talk about butterfly gardening. Also, Keith Crouse will do on-sight soil analysis.

“ This event is free to the public,” explained Anderson. “We are raffling off $100 and people can participate by purchasing a ticket for one dollar.

“Money raised from the plants and raffle will go to a scholarship in horticulture for a student at Jones County Junior College,” said Anderson. “We want to support the wonderful program they have there at the college.”

Among those attending Saturday’s activities was Elaine Byrd of Soso. Byrd said she loves pretty things and there were a variety of pretty plants for her to choose from.

Nature lovers Christine Yarnell and Reta Robertson of Laurel were also among the shoppers. These sisters credit their late grandmother, Janet Moss of Richton, for instilling a deep appreciation of flowers and plants within them.

“She use to grow all kind of plants and share them with others,” said Robertson. “She made sure that we learned something about plants and that we developed a love for them.”

“We had a very, very special grandmother,” added Yarnell.

Because of their love for plants, the two decided to shop for plants for their yards. Robertson was excited about her gardening prospects for this year.

“I’m living in the same house, but I have a different yard this year,” she said. “I had a lot of trees, but we cut some of them down. Now I don’t have to just stick with shadow plants. I can get some sun-loving plants, something I was never able to do before.”

Plant lovers have a variety of plants to choose from. The master gardeners are selling everything from ferns to old garden roses.

Master Gardener Melvaline Bullock of Bassfield said people don’t have to have a “green thumb” to grow old garden roses. They are easy-to-grow flowers that don’t even have to be sprayed.

“I have a two-acre yard and I grow 90 different varieties of old garden roses,” said Bullock, who sells them at Mevy’s Old Garden Roses. “They’re known as ‘Our Grandmother’s Roses.’