A Rainy Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Hi everyone! October just isn't October without a trip to the big pumpkin display at the garden store over the bridge.

With a Sunday respite from the roadwork, I rounded up my gardening friends and we braved  the relentless grey drizzle , off  over the bridge to the punkin patch!

Ten minutes later----Yes, sitting here stuck in traffic, hahaha, an open bridge.

My friends wanted big mums for their deck and garden. Aren't these lovely. Too big for my deck though.

The place was rather teeming with crazed small children, including moms with huge strollers and tiny screaming infants, who, I guarantee, will have no recall of visits to choose a pumpkin that outweighs them 3 to one.
And the mood was much simplified from previous years, no  home decor except some good ghosts,

a few faux pumpkins here and there. I loved this huge bouquet of mini Luminas in the requisite fad favored tin bucket.

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But all the fun stuff,

...the huge array of jacks to choose from, fond memories of my son always choosing the biggest he could find!

The petting zoo, their goats and a few chickens, lol.

the wild and crazy gourds.

I was thinking it must be fun nowadays to be a botanist who develops these squash varieties. So amazing and imaginative. When I was a little girl we had big field pumpkins for carving, Indian corn [which is no longer sold?], a few home grown stripey gourds, and bittersweet my dad would bring home from his hunting weekends in Kentucky and southern Ohio.

But now---so many pumpkin choices. [click to enlarge]

my personal fave, but very $$$ this year. They are like real pumpkins in shape but softball sized.

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Even real Pink ones--with pimples, eeew.

The locally picked apples and cider. My only purchase was the cider, I do love it.

The Big Max giant pumpkins.

I had hoped to go to a different place this year, the nursery with the spring garden show, but no. They had a giant pumpkin winner in their contest that weighed 1150 pounds! More than half a ton, imagine. And these mystery Big Maxes turned up in our parking area this weekend. $$$. Then the were gone. They must weigh hundreds of pounds.

Various interesting flowers for the non-pumpkin fans and serious gardeners. Most sold in the fall are perennials.

Coneflowers, not blackeyed susans.

hardy pansies.

intersting autumn urns, are those cranberries, center front? with red coneflowers.

Russian sage, this variety was more purple than the favorite blue.

In the main house, a hint of Christmas, oh too too soon. [but no paperwhite bulbs for next January. Order from Amazon for best results. No more supermarket fails for me.]

And some urban farmhouse art for sale. This seems to be an authentic Midwestern windmill blade, despite its brand-new-ness. Fun.

The farmhouse looked different to me. Fixed up a bit, re-sided or repainted? Or maybe just a more subtle sort of decor this year

I was as usual happy to see that the tiny mystery window is still there. Someday I will get up the nerve to ask about it, I promise.

The road home took us through bays and wetlands that are showing early hints of color---willows turning golden, grass heads silvery amber despite the rain, patches of brilliant red, I try to think ''Virginia creeper'', but truly it's probably a LOT of poison ivy. Not pretty foliage, here, but it's all we got at the beach with the dunes and marshes' sparse vegetation.

We had the fun if scary experience of having to stop on the parkway, a 6 lane divided highway---for a herd of Canadian geese to amble across the road in single nonchalant file. I love seeing them---a big family grouping for their winter journey south?---but dread being rear-ended by a less vigilant driver approaching from behind in the rain. This spot was the checkpoint after Hurricane Sandy---police stopped all cars here and everyone in the car had to show ID to pass onto the final leg of highway before the island bridges begin.

. I may check back on Thursday-ish with my Almost Amish project. However I have a thrifting date on Wednesday, very excited for an autumn hunt. I plan  to search for plaid shirts for Lori's 2020 sewalong, here. Note the wonderful folkart border!

Have a good week. Hope you have beautiful Fall days

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.........