Visiting the Pumpkin Patch 2014

A couple of weeks ago, it was time to visit the Glass Pumpkin Patch at the Morton Arboretum again.

This has become one of my favorite fall things to do. The weather wasn’t great, but at least on the day I went it wasn’t raining. I also had the chance to make my own glass pumpkin paperweight in a class earlier in the week. I’ll describe that super fun experience in the next post. But as a teaser, here’s the pumpkins my friend and I made, along with everyone’s in the class. Mine is the green one, hers is the orange.

So many different pumpkins! We each got to pick our own colors, and each turned out beautiful and unique.

As always, there are so many to choose from in the patch. Each artist has their own style and unique methods of making the pumpkins their own. After taking the class and learning some basic techniques, it was fun to talk to the artists about how they make theirs. Some of the artists are local, but many travel from the Girl Glass Studios run by Shannon Jane Morgan in Sacramento. They travel from California with their pumpkins, and a furnace, kiln and all their equipment to run classes and glass blowing demonstrations.

There was even a “vegetable garden” this year.

Of course, I added to my collection. This year I chose a pumpkin by Matthew Urban of Furnace Urbini that can be lit up and glows a beautiful golden bronze. I love the twisting of the spines and spiderweb appearance of this pumpkin.

glass pumpkin

Here’s my collection…

glass pumpkin

Sunday Feature: Golf Course Gardens

One of the most interesting places I’ve found to admire gardens is out on the golf course. Most try very hard to create a very natural, beautiful setting to enhance the experience, which I definitely appreciate. The gardens and landscaping also work to integrate the courses into their surroundings, which make them a perfect haven for wildlife (see previous post: Wildlife on the Golf Course ). It seems as though the course gardeners often put as much energy into the gardens as they do into the actual course. I’ve found that the gardens can be very calming, the blooms and scents can cheer up a dismal game, or in some cases, they can make you laugh when you come across a random pumpkin patch. Enjoy some of the photos from the courses I’ve been on this year.

South Carolina

Illinois

And then there’s the pumpkins. We watched these grow all summer, not quite sure what we were looking at. Perfect conditions, the pumpkins were huge!

(I do have to give a shout out to all my golfing partners who tolerate my running off to take a quick picture. Can’t always do it, but try to when it doesn’t interfere with the “pace of play”. When I think it might, those pretty scenes just have to be tucked away in my memory 🙂 )

Visiting a Glass Pumpkin Patch

This week we visited the third annual Glass Pumpkin Patch at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL.

There are lots of artists, each with their own signature style. Shannon Jane Morgan, who we had the chance to speak with at the First Pumpkin Patch, comes all the way from California to headline the event and has mentored many of the artists who also display their creativity with glass. There are over 3000 pumpkins for sale, live glass-blowing demonstrations and workshops. Enjoy some of these beautiful works of art.