Gorgeous Gourds

Pumpkins pop with the colors of fall

Pumpkin crop varieties add beautiful color to this fall vignette at the Birmingham home of Lisa Bouchard. She finds her fall bounty at various farmers markets, including the Oakland County Farmers Market.

What’s in store for this year? Dan Prielipp of Prielipp Farms & Greenhouse in Britton, one of the vendors at the Oakland County Farmer’s Market, says novelty pumpkins in different colors and shapes remain popular, along with the standard styles that are perfect for carving jack-o’-lanterns. Half the character of the pumpkin, he says, is the stem — which growers try to preserve as much as possible.

Farmers Markets can yield great finds “when you deal with the guy who grew it, picked it, and hauled it to set it in front of you,” Prielipp says. (To read more about Bouchard’s décor, refer to the Bulletin Board section in this issue.)