WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The City of West Lafayette is showcasing eight local artists and six award-winning gardens in the Hills & Dales and Northwestern Heights neighborhoods at Art in Bloom, a free home-garden tour, Saturday, June 27, from 10a to 3p.

The public is invited to pick up a tour map at the home of Ann Hunt, 1149 Hillcrest Road, showing the location of the six homes on the tour, which will have red balloons and a planter of red flowers in the front yard. Each of the gardens is a previous winner of a West Lafayette Beautification Award.

Each home will feature an artist or two who will display their artwork, demonstrate their creative process and offer items for sale. Those participating are: Ken Featherstone and Vicki Willis, both West Lafayette watercolorists; and from Lafayette, Marsha Castello, who works with watercolors, acrylic and mixed media; stoneware potter Mary Firestone; Janet Mummey, who creates clay pottery and will demonstrate pot carving; Jeff Smith, an oil painter and bonsai designer; Craig Whitten, who works in mixed media and will demonstrate painting with henna; and photographer Barbara Willis.

Castello, Firestone, Mummey and Vicki Willis are also Master Gardeners.

Another 40 homes in the two neighborhoods have red bows in their yards, honoring them as previous winners of the city’s Beautification Award, a program that began in 2004. Those gardens are not part of the tour, but may be appreciated from the street.

Art in Bloom is hosted by the City of West Lafayette and the Tippecanoe County Master Gardener Association with sponsorship assistance from Helen magazine.

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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Vegetable growers and master gardeners can tour plots by wagon and compare different varieties of pumpkins and sweet corn at the Sept. 9 twilight meeting in Wanatah, Ind., at the Pinney-Purdue Agricultural Center.

The Pumpkin and Sweet Corn Twilight Meeting will begin with registration at 6 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. CDT). Participants will have an opportunity to look at synergistic and supersweet sweet corn varieties, powdery mildew resistant pumpkin varieties and the cucurbit downy mildew sentinel plot.

“We have done some different things with our plots this year,” said Liz Maynard, Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service vegetable crops specialist. “This is the first year we have sprayed for powdery mildew in only half the pumpkin plots, so growers can see a difference.”

During the wagon tours, Rick Foster, Purdue Extension vegetable and fruit crops pest management specialist, will discuss insect management in sweet corn and give an update on corn earworm. Dan Egel, Purdue Extension plant pathologist, will point out various diseases in the fields, and participants will have the chance to see symptoms and ask questions. Maynard will highlight the different varieties in plots and discuss production methods and weed management strategies.

Registration is due by Sept. 2 and costs $5, which can be paid at the door and includes dinner. If the weather permits and the sweet corn is ready for harvest, participants will be able to taste some of the different varieties from the plots at dinner. Those interested can register by contacting Maynard at (219) 785-5674, emaynard@purdue.edu. Registration for those wanting to receive private pesticide applicator recertification credit (PARP) is $15.

Pinney-Purdue Agricultural Center is located at 11402 S. County Line Road. More information is available online at http://www.hort.purdue.edu/fruitveg/events/PumpkinTwiliteTour08.pdf. For additional questions, contact Maynard.

The meeting is sponsored by Purdue Extension and the Northwest Indiana Commercial Horticulture Program, a part of Purdue’s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture.