Cucurbita argyrosperma (= mixta)

ALL PACKETS OF Cucurbita argyrosperma CONTAIN APPROXIMATELY 20 SEEDS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

North Falkland Island

100 days-4 to 7 pounds-pure white, or, white with evenly-spaced bands of squiggly dark green running from end to end, or, white with bands of (squiggly) rich golden-yellow. Vining habit. A gorgeous squash, shaped like an egg with sort of a nipple at the stem end (essentially a rounded upside-down light-bulb shape, but I hate to compare this beautiful fruit to something so…electrical). Dark green perky stems. One would think that this squash has its origin in the Falkland Islands (the North one, to be precise) off the southern coast of Argentina, but my impression is that these islands are rather foggy and windswept and inhospitable to heat-loving Cucurbita argyrosperma. Who knows. (My source for this seed identified it as Cucurbita moschata, but this seems clearly to be incorrect.) The yellow-striped types are like nothing I have seen before. Presumably these are grown for the seeds. $4.00/pkt. VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES

Campeche

100 days-3 to 8 pounds-white with a thick tracery of ten or so dark-green stripes running from stem to stern, often in bands (leaving white spaces in between) near the stem end. Shape varies from spherical or oval-shaped (less common) to the light-bulb-like shape of North Falkland Island (most common). A very nice-looking and prolific squash with numerous slightly silver-edged seeds. A fixture in produce displays at the Great Pumpkin Patch. Campeche is a state in southern Mexico. $2.50/pkt.

Hopi Cushaw

110 days-15 to 20 pounds-gorgeous splashes of dark green and yellow, sometimes finely mottled with white. Vining habit. These can be absolutely fantastic depending on your soil chemistry and growing season. Our most spectacular specimens tend to get baked in our August heat wave and collapse. They are "pyriform," meaning they are shaped like a squatty pear, and can get quite large, always weighing less than you would expect due to their thin flesh and large seed cavity. Sometimes they are almost entirely dark green and not so fantastic. Argyrospermas were domesticated and bred by Native Americans for their plump, nutritious, plentiful seeds, not for their relatively flavorless flesh. $3.50/pkt. VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES

Winter Vining

105 days-12 to 15 pounds-white with thick veiny green stripes. Vining habit (surprise). A close relative of the Green-Striped Cushaw, Winter Vining seems to have better disease resistance and to have necks that are consistently straight, not curved. From the stem they round down to a long cylindrical neck, pinching in just a bit before swelling out to a ball-like seed cavity at the blossom end. Originally from New Jersey? $3.50/pkt. VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES

Tricolor Cushaw

95 days-12 to 15 pounds-the best specimens have a stunning combination of dark green, golden yellow, and white stripes running from the stem to the blossom end, with all colors intermingling and blotching outside the overall stripe pattern, usually with the downward side mostly green and white and a predominantly golden area sunny side up. Some fruits, unfortunately, are mostly green and white or mostly yellow and white. Shape is similar to Winter Vining, but the necks tend to be curved, sometimes spectacularly so. Our breeding program and information from other sources seem to indicate that the variety will lose its vigor and its bright color contrasts if seed is not saved from the dark-green striped and all-white fruits that appear alongside the Tricolors proper. We think that you will be satisfied, however, with the high percentage of vivid green and gold fruits in our strain. A shining star in the squash firmament. $10.00/oz. ; $2.50/pkt.

White Cushaw

115 days-18 to 45 pounds-white with faint green veiny stripes, becoming fainter as the squash matures. We are still striving for a pure white variety. These suckers can be enormous. Favored by the Illinois Amish for pies and deep-frying thick slices from the solid neck, the culinary uses of this massive squash are still something of a mystery to me, as it seems rather flavorless. (Although for cooking up large quantities without the trouble of scooping out seeds, the huge solid necks of White Cushaw would be ideal, which may explain the attraction.) The basic shape of Winter Vining and Tricolor Cushaw is here (quite often) exaggerated into grotesque (or at least attention-grabbing) forms, with the neck of the squash sometimes curving back to touch itself near the blossom end and the "waist" between the neck and the ball containing the seed cavity sometimes only a couple of inches in diameter, swelling to huge proportions at both ends. The round blossom end tends to be more elongated here than in the other Cushaws. Introduced in 1891 (or before) as "Jonathan Pumpkin." $2.50/pkt.