Confessions of a Pumpkin Thief

Okay, I didn’t really steal any pumpkins on my recent visit to Molbaks Nursery. But I did steal ideas – pumpkin decorating ideas that go way beyond carving.

Turns out the employees at Molbaks are a very talented bunch, and I’d stumbled upon a display of pumpkins that they had decorated.

This one is smiling, but somehow it’s clown creepy.

This one, just plain creepy – and imaginative.

These two are intricate works of art.

And here is the one that I stole – or at least tried to steal. For some reason I thought, “hey, I can do that.”

I loved the wacky face made up of plants and flowers.

So I got a pumpkin for the head and a small turban squash for a hat. Luckily some of the plants and flowers used in the Molbaks pumpkin were things I had on hand in my own garden: I used hen and chicks (an evergreen succulent) for the eyes and clipped Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ flowers for the brim of the hat. The last summer squash of the season made a perfect nose.

Then I wound up in the basement, sifting through our collection of old hardware, for the mouth.

My efforts yielded this disturbing image.

Pumpkin decorating ideas using what you have on hand — My crazy pumpkin

So what I learned with this one is that it’s fun to use what you have on hand, and there really are no rules.

But there was one more pumpkin at Molbaks that inspired me: This fun planting of mixed succulents using the pumpkin as a potting container.

I found a small, lopsided white pumpkin (called a “ghost pumpkin”) with very cool veining trickling down from its stem. It was such a unique look that I left the stem on and cut the opening for the plant behind it.

Pumpkin decorating ideas: ghost pumpkin planter — Violas with ghost pumpkin

The drawback of course is that these pumpkins won’t last long before they start to get mushy. By now all the employees have taken their pumpkins home.

But what a fun way to enjoy the season while it lasts!

*Photos of Molbaks employee pumpkins courtesy of Molbaks Garden and Home, Woodinville, WA.