Town and Country Pumpkins
Wander the grounds of the 66-acre Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden during its annual autumn festival and you’d swear you’d stepped into a fairytale scene worthy of Cinderella. The plant artistry that goes into Autumn at the Arboretum and its Pumpkin Village transforms this scenic garden into a wonderland in shades of orange, green and gold.
More than 90,000 pumpkins, squash and gourds in all shapes and varieties go into this horticultural masterpiece, along with other natural materials. And the majority of those pumpkins start as seeds 327 miles away in Floydada, Texas, “Pumpkin Capital USA.”
“We purchase 75 percent of our pumpkins from the Pumpkin Pyle Farm in Floydada,” says Terry Lendecker, vice president of advertising and promotions for the arboretum, who visited Floyd County on a media tour last fall with Arboretum Director Dave Forehand and a photography crew. (The other 25 percent comes from East Texas.)
GOURD AND MASTER: Dave Forehand of the Dallas Arboretum picks from a variety of gourds and pumpkins at the Pyle packing shed in Floydada.
Pumpkins have been raised commercially in Floyd County going back to the 1950s, when B.A. “Uncle Slim” and Grace Robertson sold them from a roadside stand and, eventually, to produce brokers in Dallas. But things didn’t really take off for agritourism until more recently. Jason Pyle started his first pumpkin crop from seed money provided by his grandfather, Louis, in 1991, when he was only a junior in high school. “He told me I could plant anything I wanted on five acres,” he says. “And I picked pumpkins.” Pyle and his friends sold his first harvest from a farm stand on the highway, but they quickly learned that customers also wanted ornamental gourds for fancy fall décor.
The result was an agricultural boon for this West Texas county. Twenty-five years later, Floydada celebrates its pumpkin-patch reputation with its annual Punkin Days the second Saturday in October. Activities from cakewalks, history activities, food and vendor booths to a giant pumpkin weight-guessing contest take place around the historic courthouse square. And down the road at the Assiter Punkin Ranch, families can enjoy hayrides, gourd art and refreshments and pick out their jack-o’- lanterns starting Sept. 20.
Back in Dallas, Texas, pumpkins go into the creation of pumpkin houses, pumpkin paths, pumpkin sculptures, a hay bale maze, scavenger hunts and more at the Dallas Arboretum. Tens of thousands of visitors stroll the lush, shaded grounds, enjoying one of “America’s Best Pumpkin Festivals” according to Fodor’s Travel, along with other features of a garden begun in 1940.
GRAND TOUR: Visitors can tour the 1940 DeGolyerhome, now a centerpiece of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.
The Arboretum developed around the Everette and Nell DeGolyer estate, Rancho Encinal, on the shores of White Rock Lake. Everette was a successful Dallas oilman, geophysicist, rarebooks collector and philanthropist known as “the founder of applied geophysics in the petroleum industry” and “the father of American geophysics.” Landscape architects Arthur and Marie Berger designed the 4.5-acre DeGolyer Gardens for the family in 1940. Many of the original garden features remain, including the Magnolia Allee, the Sunken Garden and the Octagonal Fountain.
AMBIENCE: The historic DeGolyer home overlooking White Rock Lake is a great place to stop for lunch during a visit to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.
After the deaths of Everette in 1956 and Nell in 1972, the DeGolyer children donated the estate to Southern Methodist University, which later sold it to the City of Dallas. Combined with the purchase of the adjacent Camp Estate, it opened to the public in 1984 as the Dallas Arboretum. The estate is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is open for daily tours.
At the DeGolyer house, visitors can enjoy an elegant seated meal or a seasonal and delicious three-course tea amid the festive settings of the beautiful DeGolyer Tea Room.
FUN IN FLOYDADA: The 2016 Punkin Days is slated for Saturday, Oct. 8.
Across Texas, pumpkin fun is popping up this fall. Floyd County’s the place to pick ’em, and the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens invites visitors to make a day of it, have a picnic, make memories and take advantage of the beautiful backdrop for dazzling photos.
