Last week, I spent most of a day photographing at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. I’d gone up expecting to spend my day photographing the chrysanthemums – which were lovely. You can imagine my surprise when I realized that what I was spending most of my time photographing was the pumpkins! I had seen the Christmas display at Longwood last year, so I knew they did wonderful things for the holidays. They also do a wonderful job of capturing the colors of autumn.

My favorite autumn display was the giant Cornucopia in front of the Dupont House. It’s a classic woven horn of plenty, with lots of pumpkins, squashes and gourds spilling out.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

The display provided wonderful opportunities for photographing combinations of fall produce. Here are some of my favorite photos of parts of the display.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I never realized there were so many shapes, colors and textures of pumpkins, squashes and gourds. And while I’m sure the staff at Longwood Gardens can identify what all these are – I have no clue what varieties any of them are.

The Autumn’s Colors and Chrysanthemum Festival run through November 22 at Longwood Gardens.  I know I’m planning on heading back up to see more of the exhibit soon. If you get a chance, it’s well worth visiting this wonderful display at Longwood.