Okay, I think my father has had his annual joke on me, and this time it's a
doozy!

Of course, it could have been anyone, strangers walking/driving by...... but
we do tend to plant something odd in each others garden to surprise each
other, every year. .

I bought a crabapple tree to plant on the sidewalk to street part of my
yard. So first I had my usual and VERY handy friendly and inexpensive pal
till the area to plant it. He tilled quite a bit more than I expected, so
along with the tree, (about 4-5' tall now and doing very well), I had
planted some hollyhocks and foxgloves on the outer edge. with salvia, dusty
miller, dianthus, gerberas, balloon flowers, snapdragons, around the middle
and caladiums on the sidewalk side. ALL of these are doing so well, and
there is plenty of cypress mulch to keep out weeds.

All of a sudden one day, even though the hollyhocks had not quite flowered,
I noticed what I thought at the time was another small hollyhock starting to
grow. I thought, well that was quick. Hmmmmmm.... maybe, just maybe, there
was another tiny one, or more likely a bit of root I had missed when
transferring it from the pot to ground....

The leaves weren't quite the same as they grew, and soon enough I realized
it was something in the squash family! I figured my Dad put in some zucchini
or yellow squash as he knows I love both, but have forgone my veggie garden
this year to devote to my landscaping and flower gardening projects. It just
seemed like a funny-odd place to plant a zucchini.

Heh, both Mother Nature and I have been making sure it gets plenty of water,
and it's out in the open with no shade, so full bright sunlight every day!
Growing like crazy, tons of little squash blossoms starting to come out! I'm
actually HAPPY!

Went out yesterday after not paying it much attention, for about a week or
so, as the whole 'patch' is doing well, (aside from this plant covering a
few dusty millers and salvias, and it is starting to encroach on other
plants there.......hackles are raising grrr)

Pulled up one of the *little* "squash blossoms", do I have zucchini, or
yellow squash?

Nope, I gots me the very first of this years PUMPKIN PATCHES!!!!!

I'm gonna kill him, as I just know it was him!!

Like I said, it *could* have been anyone, and I didn't think anyone would go
around spittin out zucchini/squash seeds...lol....but I just have this
funny feeling, as he's had a little too much NON-interest on guessing what
was coming up there!

So, okay, I've never grown pumpkins. I have a few questions.

Will this thing take over my whole flower patch?

It's about 4-5 ft from the crab apple tree, so I'm not worried about that
too much, or should I be?

Do ppl usually plant pumpkins this time of year?

When will the little (almost baseball sized) 'fruits' become real big
pumpkins?

Will these be like 'labo-lanterns' as in ready by Labor Day? Or does it take
them longer? I can't see them not being big enough by the end of July, never
mind August! Heh.

What would you do if this were your front garden? Remember it's right up
next to the street, and the plant will certainly make it to the curb by the
time it's done growing.

All of my neighbors are in stitches about it, but I really don't think
they'd have done it as we just moved in last Sept., but who knows. g

Oh well, that's my new 'garden surprise' for this year, (hope it's my
last----other than a wisteria that will finally bloom sometime in its
lifetime.....my sweet peas will flower...my cardinal climber will bloom this
summer....or my clematis will finally acclimate.)

Thanks for any advice.

MaryBeth