To Amuse and Delight

Monday, October 26, 2015

Unexpected Gourds

A few weeks ago this plant popped up outside my front door. It grew very fast and started flowering profusely. Bees were always buzzing around it. They would burrow deep down into the blossoms. We could even pet them and they were so drunk on pollen the didn't even budge. I decided to let it keep growing, for the bees sake. 

And keep growing it did! Like a magic beanstalk, it grew up the house and into the rain gutter.

My home is always decorated with all kinds of nature bits: gourds, nests, pumpkins, shells, acorns, pine cones, insects, feathers, skulls, and more.
When a pumpkin or gourd gets a bit soft I display it outside, that way I can enjoy the beauty a little longer. Apparently, one of last years gourds planted itself at my front door.

Now we have all these lovely little gourds. We cut them off at different stages so we can enjoy the different shapes. They will end up back outside and hopefully the cycle will continue.

So inspired by the adorable gourds, my daughters decided to capture a couple in watercolor...

The Younger

The Older



2 comments:

  1. Love this! We do this too! We call it our smush garden because the vegetables have to be very soft and they get to go jump on them and smush them into the soil. No maintenance is necessary, and we have a mini crop the following year. Our best success has been with pumpkins (autumn crops are so hardy!) but that doesn't stop my little ones from trying it with everything we eat.

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  2. What a delightful surprise! Our CSA has been squash overload, at first in good ways, but eventually a few went to decorating as well. Now I need a few gourds to go along with them. And who knows? Perhaps paint a picture. Adore your daughters' paintings!

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