The pump­kins every­one is gaga for!

These are THE pump­kins every­one is gaga for! Cre­ated by Laura Eubanks of San Diego, they are the per­fect com­bi­na­tion for a South­west­ern Thanks­giv­ing. I took Laura’s class at Green Gar­dens Nurs­ery in San Diego last Sat­ur­day, and now I’m going to share what I learned. First of all, it’s easy to get ter­rific results! Assem­ble the fol­low­ing: clear gel craft glue (Laura uses Aleene’s brand), a glue gun, spray glue, a pump­kin with a bowl shaped top, moss, small and mini suc­cu­lents, seeds, pods and dried buds (can be col­lected under trees).

Glu­ing on the moss

As you can see, the moss is ordi­nary — spray the top of the pump­kin well with the spray glue. You don’t want to glue any­thing on the sides as they won’t stick: con­fine the moss to the top. The moss should be ¹⁄₂ ” thick, pat­ted down.

A sam­pling of the materials

Now you are ready to start glu­ing on the larger suc­cu­lents and buds with the clear gel glue. The larger pieces should be glued first, towards the cen­ter. It’s best to have no stems or cut them very short and to have a vari­ety of col­ors if possible.

Next glue in the smaller suc­cu­lents, buds, pods, etc. with the same gel glue. Tuck lit­tle pieces in all over, mix­ing up the col­ors. You can see the first photo for guid­ance. It’s best to have a lot of stuff as that makes the pump­kins inter­est­ing. Seeds and pods around the perime­ter should be attached with a glue gun.

The pump­kin should dry for about 12 hours. Laura rec­om­mends the fol­low­ing care: keep out of direct sun­light, Mist with tap water once a week, keep indoors for up to one week at a time, best out­doors in a semi-​shady loca­tion. Laura had a pump­kin last for almost 9 months, although there are no guarantees!

Laura is sell­ing these along with Christ­mas pump­kins on her web­site, www​.design4seren​ity​.com. There is a lim­ited deliv­ery area as they are too heavy and frag­ile to ship. Laura and hus­band Greg Eubanks are both Mas­ter Gar­den­ers, and they offer “design and imple­men­ta­tion of inti­mate gar­den set­tings.” In addi­tion, Laura is a Mas­ter Com­poster (!), gar­den lec­turer, and con­ducts work­shops. Thank you, Laura, for your gen­eros­ity in shar­ing your pump­kins with my readers!

Green Gar­dens Nurs­ery is a won­der­ful neigh­bor­hood busi­ness in Pacific Beach, a sub­urb of San Diego. They are get­ting geared up for the hol­i­days with exten­sive offer­ings. Their web­site is www​.sdgreen​gar​dens​.com. They have a ter­rific suc­cu­lent col­lec­tion for sale, as well as some of Laura’s pumpkins.

On the web:

Fri­day, 11/​4 — Sun­day ¹¹⁄₆ Green Gar­dens Nurs­ery (see above) will be hav­ing their Annual Hol­i­day Open House with refresh­ments and a 15% dis­count on gift shop items. Fri­day 4 — 7pm, Sat­ur­day and Sun­day 8am — 5pm. (858) 483‑7846