Pumpkin Love

We celebrated a special moment in the garden this morning, a brief romantic encounter weeks in the making. With a little help from a gardeners hand we hope for a match made in heaven and a little one to grow strong, big and orange.

After seeing several female pumpkin flowers shrivel up fall off and die because of the heat, three nights of cool weather have allowed one of our gals to open up this morning. Nothing against the hard working pollinated bees out there, but I wasn't going to take any chances on letting this lady suffer the same fate as the others. After all, she did manage to open up and it seems to me she was ready to settle down.

It was up to me to find her a perfect mate, a guy strong and blooming brightly with lots of pollen! Amazingly enough, I have more male flowers blooming today than I've ever seen. I the guys knew what was going on this morning! After a careful search, the "pollinator" was selected and ever so gently introduced into our pumpkin lady.

It's hard to tell how it went, I got no reaction, no leaf quiver and no screams. For all I know she may hav not enjoyed being pollinated at all. Maybe she faked her excitement and just held it in. For now we wait and hope.......hope for the baby pumpkin to grow strong, big and orange.

Female flower with pumpkin bud ////Male flower part going in