The second annual Southern Blooms Festival is Mothers’ Day Weekend, May 7 through 9, 2010, at Rock City, 1400 Patten Road, Lookout Mountain, Georgia.

The event includes garden tours, demonstrations, special vendors, book signings, music and a premiere lecture series honoring Rock City’s original gardener, Frieda Utermoehlen Carter. Workshops include Rain Gardens, Landscape Design and Make-and-Take Hypertufa Pots; children can learn how to make recycled newspaper pots. Tickets are $17.95 for adults and $9.95 for children ages 3-12.

Six miles south of downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, Rock City is a 4,100-foot walking trail showcasing gardens, caves and rock formations. For a calendar of what’s likely to be blooming when, go online. Expected in May are rhododendrons, native azaleas, Southern Magnolia and summer annuals.