Squash Hunt 2025

Celebrate Fall with the Annual Squash Hunt

October 1-31, 2025

Experience the magic of autumn at Bloedel Reserve. Wander the trails surrounded by brilliant fall color as you join our Annual Squash Hunt. Pick up a map and search for decorative squash tucked throughout the gardens.

Young explorers can grab a Passport, a nature-themed rubbings booklet, from the Arrival Garden. With it in hand, kids can stop at squash displays along the way and create rubbings to complete their fall adventure.

Don’t miss the Sheep Sheds! Climb into the hay bales, pose for a fun photos, and challenge friends to pumpkin tic-tac-toe or checkers. And, grab a hot beverage and a little snack in the Arrival Garden before your walk from The H&S Coffee Cottage.

Join us for pumpkin painting on Welcome Wednesday October 1 (1–4 PM) and October 4 (10 AM–1 PM). Your masterpiece will be entered in our Pumpkin Contest, entries will be displayed all month long, with voting beginning October 7. The winner receives their choice of six guest admission passes or a complimentary Friends & Family Membership.

All Squash Hunt activities are included with the price of admission. Timed tickets are recommended.
Fall Hours: Tuesday–Sunday, 10 AM–5 PM.

Thanks to Fat Turnip Farms @FatTurnipFarms for supplying additional squash for our displays this year!

Make Your Own Gourd Ornaments

You’ll need the following supplies: Gourds, soap & water, various colors of wood stain, clear varathane finish, cheap paint brushes or paint staining sponges, gloves.

For hanging: Small eye screws, fishing line or decorative twine or ribbon for hanging.

• Select an number of gourds to make into ornaments
• Place them in a clean, dry area away from critters to let them dry out–this typically takes roughly 1 year
• Once the gourds are dried out (you’ll be able to hear seeds rattling inside and the skin will be hard and shiny) scrub them clean using soap and water
• Leave them to dry out in the sun
• Clip their stem handles to the desired length

If you’d like to hang the gourds as ornaments:

• To prepare the gourds for hanging, make a small hole in the stem or in the very top of the gourd–be careful not to push too hard or you can break the gourd
• Using gently pressure, slowly screw the eye screw into the hole you’ve made until it holds well
• Tie a fishing knot with fishing line, or use decorative twine or ribbon to attach to the eye screw–you could also attach Christmas tree ornament hooks to the eye screws
• Decorate!

Grow a Giant Pumpkin

Want to try your hand at growing a giant pumpkin? Here are some tips from the Bloedel Reserve Horticulture team to get you started:

• Use seeds collected from pumpkins specifically bred for size.
• Sow your seed indoors in early to mid-April.
• Move your plants out of doors in mid-May.
• Fertile soil is key. Plant in soil amended with well-rotted manure or compost.
• Bury the stems as the vines grow along the ground to encourage a wider root system.
• Keep the soil adequately moist. Don’t let your soil dry out but but don’t let it be continually swampy either.
• Hand-pollinate a small number of female flowers by early July. You can use the pollen from male flowers on the same plant or from another plant that has also been grown from seed bred for size.
• Thin your gourds down to the one or two fastest-growing pumpkins on the vine, once they have reached beach ball size. Fewer pumpkins = bigger pumpkins!
• Shade your pumpkins. This keeps the skin soft and helps to keep them from cracking as they put on size.