Topics ranging from contemplative gardens to urban jungles fill the Fall 2004 Cornell Plantations Lecture Series at Cornell University, which is open free of charge to the public.

The long-running series moves to a new location in the renovated Alice Statler Auditorium of Statler Hall for the Wednesday evening sessions – except for the first two:

• Sept. 8, the William H. and Jane Torrence Harder Lecture kicks off the series with a talk by Cornell Professor of English Roger Gilbert, "From Whiteville to Ithaca: The Scenic Route of A.R. Ammons' Poetry," beginning at 5:30 p.m. in B45 Warren Hall. An outdoor gala featuring music and food will follow.
• Sept. 15, the Class of 1938 Lecture, by Martin Mosko and Alxe Noden, "Landscape as Spirit: Creating a Contemplative Garden," will be delivered in the PepsiCo Auditorium, 305 Ives Hall at 7:30 p.m. Mosko is the founder of Marpa & Associates as well as a Zen monk, and Noden is a writer and photographer.

All subsequent Wednesday evening lectures are in Statler Auditorium, at the corner of Campus Road and East Avenue, at 7:30 p.m. Ample free parking will be available after 5 p.m. in the university garage, with entrances off Hoy Road and Campus Road. Handicap access to Statler Auditorium is available at the entrance across from Barton Hall.

The lecture series also is a one-credit course, pass/fail, for Cornell students (Horticulture 480, course number 074719). For more information on the series and Cornell Plantations, e-mail plantations@cornell.edu , visit the Web site http://www.plantations.cornell.edu/ or call (607) 255-2400. Other lectures in the 2004 Cornell Plantations' free fall series include:

• Sept. 22," A Romance With Spiders," Linda Rayor, assistant professor of entomology, Cornell.
• Sept 29, "Installing and Maintaining a Native Plant Wildflower Meadow," Mark Gormel, horticultural coordinator, Brandywine Conservancy, Chadds Ford, Pa.o Oct. 6, "Tiptoeing Through the Tulips: Flowers, True Love and Popular Songs," Michael Lasser, National Public Radio broadcaster, critic and teacher.
• Oct. 13, "Gertrude Jekyll and the English Cottage Garden: Fact, Fiction and Future," the 16th annual Audrey Harkness O'Connor Lecture, by Jane Longland, horticulturist and lecturer, Kent, U.K.
• Oct. 20, "Consider the Leaf: Foliage in Garden Design," the 22nd annual William J. Hamilton Jr. Lecture by Judy Glattstein, garden consultant, author and instructor.
• Oct. 27, "Greening the Urban Jungle: Better Ways to Grow Trees in Our Cities," Nina Bassuk, professor and program leader of the Urban Horticulture Institute, Cornell.
• Nov. 3, "The Woods Are My Church and I Go There Every Day," John Fitzpatrick, Louis Agassiz Fuertes Director, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
• Nov. 10, "Plant Medicine Hunt: The Search for Cures," the Duane Neil '54 Lecture by Chris Kilham, ethnobotanist, University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Cornell Plantations, the arboretum, botanical garden and natural areas of Cornell University, is open, free of charge, to the public during daylight hours. This year marks its 60th anniversary. The public is invited to visit Sept. 19 for Judy's Day, a family event focusing on life in the 1800s.