Whether you”re interested in vegetables, fruit or flowers, there will be something for you at the annual Horticulture Field Day, Thursday, Aug. 22, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The field day is sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and UW-Extension. It will be held at the West Madison Agricultural Research Station located on Mineral Point Road, just west of Madison”s Beltline (U.S. Highways 12 and 14). The garden is located just north of Mineral Point Road.

Last year”s field day featured more then 200 selections of flowers, fruits and vegetables. The sunflowers, pumpkins, melons, and All American selections were all big hits. This year, the gardens have been enlarged to include prairie plants, turf plots, and day lilies — more than 325 selections in all.

The new plantings include a garden of heirloom tomatoes along with several other vegetable and flower heirloom selections, according to Helen Harrison, a UW-Madison horticulturist and UW-Extension home gardening specialist.

“The heirloom tomato selections date from the 1940s and 1950s,” says Harrison. “Although these tomatoes don”t produce the high yields of today”s hybrids, they come in interesting shapes and colors, and many taste great. Several seed companies are now making these available to customers.”

The field day will feature demonstrations of how to prune dwarf apple trees, how to treat soil so you can raise blueberries, and how to compost kitchen and yard wastes. Turf grass varieties will also be on display for the first time.

Experts from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences will be on hand to answer gardeners” questions. Garden tours will begin at 3:15, 4:15, 5:15 and 6 p.m. Gardeners with plant problems can bring plant samples to the experts for analysis.

If you are interested in touring the gardens before or after the field day, you can take a self-guided tour any weekday. Harrison has labeled the plants, and brochures describing them are available at the research station office from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.