Novelist Alison Lurie, the F.J. Whiton Professor Emerita of American Literature at Cornell University, will open the Cornell Plantations free Wednesday night lecture series with a Sept. 5 presentation, "Secret Gardens and Enchanted Forests: Nature in Children's Literature."

Also speaking in the 10-lecture series, which is open to the public and continues through Nov. 7, are biologists studying the possibility of gardening on Mars and a wine-grape grower who says New York could be the next Napa Valley.

Lurie's presentation, the fifth annual William H. and Jane Torrence Harder Lecture, will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the James Law Auditorium at the College of Veterinary Medicine and will be followed by a reception. All other Wednesday night lectures begin at 7:30 p.m. and also will be held in the James Law Auditorium. Free parking is available nearby.

The series also is offered as a one-credit Cornell course. For more information on participating in the series for course credit, send e-mail to rgl3@cornell.edu . For information on this series and other Cornell Plantations programs, please visit the web site http://www.plantations.cornell.edu/ .

Other lectures in Cornell Plantations' fall 2001 series include:

• Sept. 12, the 19th annual William J. Hamilton Jr. Lecture, "Plant Hunting in Turkey: From Collection to Sale," Daniel Hinkley, founder of Heronswood Nursery, Kingston, Wash.
• Sept. 19, "Rethinking the Italian Renaissance Garden Over Four Decades," Claudia Lazzaro, professor of history of art, Cornell University.
• Sept. 25, "Lessons Learned From Great Gardens of the World," Catherine Mahan, landscape architect, partner, Mahan Rykiel Associates, Baltimore, Md.
• Oct. 3, the 13th annual Audrey Harkness O'Connor Lecture, "Easy-to-Grow Rock Garden Plants," Elisabeth Sheldon, Ithaca author of The Flamboyant Garden and A Proper Garden.
• Oct. 10, "A Taste for the Exotic: Non-Native Trees," John Kuser, professor of ecology, evolution and natural resources, Rutgers University.o Oct. 17, Class of 1938 Lecture, "Monet at Giverny: Garden and Art," Sharilyn J. Ingram, director, Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton, Ontario.
• Oct. 24, "Tales From the Underground: A Natural History of the Life Beneath Your Feet," David Wolfe, associate professor of horticulture, Cornell University.
• Oct. 31, "What's for Dinner on Mars? Food in a Closed Life-Support System," Jean Hunter, associate professor of biological and environmental engineering, and Corinne Johnson, senior research associate in biological and environmental engineering, Cornell University.
• Nov. 7, "The Next Napa: New York's Wine Industry Reinvents Itself," Timothy Martinson, extension educator, Finger Lakes Grape Program, Cornell University.