Your Fairy-Tale Garden
When you need a ride to prince charming’s ball — or simply some new colors in your garden — homegrown pumpkins are your best bet. Explore these magical varieties to create your very own fairy-tale garden.
Baby Boo
These babies grow only 2 to 3 inches in diameter and can be either deep orange or white. Originally cultivated in Pennsylvania in 1990, they’re the perfect decoration anywhere.
Batwing
This mercurial type grows to 1⁄2 to 1 pound and comes in orange and green blotches that can look like bat wings. It doesn’t get any more on-theme than that.
Blue Jarrahdale
This beautiful, shockingly blue heirloom pumpkin is just as desirable inside; its flesh is dense, sweet, and stringless, making it perfect for eating — if you can bear to cut into it. It grows three to five to a plant, each reaching a 1-foot diameter and 6 to 12 pounds.
Casper
Casper the friendly ghost pumpkin is white, round, and too cute for this world. It’s the perfect pie size, if you’re cool with eating your friends.
Cinderella
Is there a more iconic fairy-tale pumpkin than this Cinderella carriage look-alike? A vibrant orange-red with deep ribbing, this pumpkin makes charming, stackable front porch displays — and equally good pies.
Crown Prince
The crown prince is certainly charming, with a unique glossy gray-blue skin. He’s also a keeper — it will keep for up to a year in a cool, dark space.
Crystal Star
This star never loses its pure-white shine. It’s more like an enormous supernova, growing up to 25 to 35 pounds.
Fairy-Tale
The slightly flattened, squashed fairy-tale pumpkin grows on strong, storybook- worthy vines. It holds up well in curries and soups, eaten on the way to an adventure, of course.
Futsu Black
Don’t be deceived by this heirloom Japanese variety’s villainously green, warty appearance, so deep in color it almost appears black. The golden flesh inside has a delightfully hazelnutty flavor that’s wonderful roasted, tempura-fried, pureed, or pickled.
Goosebumps
A variant of the knucklehead variety (just a fact, not a judgement), this rare, spooky pumpkin always looks like it just heard a ghost story.
Harvest Moon
The fertile harvest moon pumpkin grows prolifically and perfectly for carving crescents out of. The midsize fruits grow 8 to 12 pounds and are reliably round and smooth.
Jack Be Little
It’s the more the merrier for these tiny 3- to 4-inch gourds, which grow 12 to a plant and make adorable table decorations in troves.
Magic Lantern
Create the perfect magic lantern — a jack-o’-lantern — with this tall, classic orange variety. Though the fruits grow 16 to 24 pounds, their semi-vine structure is space- saving.
Moonshine
This small, smooth, white pumpkin has the ethereal glow of its namesake and makes for a ghostly alternative to the classic jack-o’- lantern.
Mystic
The mystic may be fairly small, only growing to 7 or 8 pounds, but it packs a deep punch. Its sweet flesh is perfect for pumpkin pie.
New England Pie
Who could outdo the classic New England pie pumpkin? These dark-orange pumpkins vary in diminutive size and promise the very best pies.
Spirit
Bright orange-gold spirit pumpkins look as cheerful as they sound.
Speckled Hound
Though their green splotches and oblate shape give these speckled pumpkins a unique look, they are in fact high yielding, averaging eight fruits per plant.
Warty Goblin
This bumpy, blistered pumpkin has so much character, you might have to name it. It’s ideal for Halloween decorations.
Wolf
The wolf pumpkin doesn’t just come out at the full moon, although it is distinctively round and large, growing up to almost 30 pounds. It originated in New York.
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