The world's largest pumpkin—a monstrous 2,032 pounds—started its transformation into spooky carnivorous plants at the New York Botanical Garden yesterday. Think a squashy Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors.
The NYBG, whose Haunted Pumpkin Garden is now in full swing, has another day of its "Giant Pumpkin Carving Weekend," today. The badass artists from Villafane Studios unleashed their carving skills on the pumpkins, creating horrifying beautiful things. And there's plenty of pumpkin to work with—from the NYBG:
This year’s record-breaking pumpkin hails from Napa, California, where Tim and Susan Mathison grew a 2,032-pound behemoth that snatched up the world heavyweight title. Joining it at the Garden this year are two pumpkins from Dawn and Bill Northrup of New Brunswick, Canada, at 1,813 and 1,024.5 pounds, respectively; and a pair from Dave and Carol Stelts of Edinburgh, Pennsylvania, clocking in at 1,496 and 1,391.5 pounds. Also on display are Chris Kent’s record-snapping, 350.5-lb. watermelon flying in from Sevierville, Tennessee; and a long gourd from Fred Ansems of Kentville, Nova Scotia, that clocks in at over 11 feet in length.
There are still Q&A's with the carvers and growers of huge pumpkins at 12, 1, 2, 3 and 4 today. Here's a little look at what the Villafane crew is doing:
The Everett Children's Adventure Garden is also transformed into a kid's Halloween paradise—intricately carved jack-o-lanterns, amake-your-own-trail-mix booth and a dope Pumpkin House, plus great climbing rocks and other fun activities (put on a puppet show! check out the creepy compost crawlers!) are at their disposal.
