SALISBURY — Camilla Prevette Wilcox will speak Friday at Historic Salisbury Foundation’s annual OctoberTour luncheon at Salisbury Station. Wilcox’s talk is titled, “Heirloom Plants for Modern Gardens.”

A Salisbury native, Wilcox spent her professional career working with museums and historic properties in North Carolina as well as other states, advising them on historic plants and landscapes. Most notably, Wilcox researched the plants of the early 20th century for the award-winning restoration of the formal gardens at Reynolda House in Winston-Salem.

One might ask how an art major at Salem College ventured into this field. If you knew her parents, the late Olive and Keith Prevette, you would understand.

The Prevettes were charter members of Historic Salisbury Foundation. They meticulously restored their residence, the 1838 Torrance House on the corner of West Bank and Ellis Streets. Wilcox grew up in an environment where architecture, history and preservation were a large part of everyday life.

It seemed natural that Wilcox would return to preservation, which she did after her children were older. She spent four decades as an educator with Reynolda House Museum of American Art and Reynolda Gardens at Wake Forest University.

Now retired, Wilcox continues to write and talk about historic plants and landscapes. In her Friday talk, Wilcox will explore the landscape fashions of the periods when the homes on OctoberTour were built.

The landscape was then considered to be as important as the architectural style of the house. She will touch on “old garden favorites” and how they might be used to re-create a historic — or modern — landscape today.

Tickets are available in limited quantities from Historic Salisbury Foundation’s offices at 215 Depot St., by phone at 704-636-0103, or on-line at www.octobertour.com.