Cucurbita maxima

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

Boer (Flat White)

120 days-15 to 30 pounds-white. Vining habit. Apparently this is what people think of when they say "pumpkin" in South Africa (where it is known as "Plat Wit Boer" in Afrikaans). Named after the country's Dutch Boer settlers, there are now many hybrid varieties of these large, flat, thick-fleshed squashes, usually at least three times wider than they are tall. Slightly ribbed. This is an open-pollinated strain. Not always a good producer for us, but we have had some monsters (and some monster yields) over the years. (And as we embark on our tour of the maxima universe below, let us remember that some authorities consider that this species exhibits more diversity of shape, color, texture, and size than any other species on earth…) SORRY--NOT AVAILABLE THIS YEAR--MUST BUILD UP MORE SEED STOCK

Bush Baby

105 days-6 to 10 pounds-light blue. Vining habit. Bush Baby hails from Australia and is good-lookin' and good-tastin'. The fruits are shaped like squarish to flattened pumpkins, smooth or shallowly ribbed, with a small ringed protuberance at the blossom end. We are selecting for a green star at the base of the stem. Flesh is yellow-orange and thick. We have not seen this one offered anywhere else. $3.00/pkt.

Blue Blockers

90 to 100 days-5 to 6 pounds-mottled light blue. Vining habit. This is my own name for these handsome squashes with rounded shoulders. Mac was unable to track down a name for these in South Africa and called them the "blue blocky pumpkin," which reminded me of an old '80s infomercial for UV-blocking sunglasses. They taste good. $3.50/pkt. VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES

Goldkeeper

105 days-6 to 12 pounds-pink to brilliant red. Vining habit. This variety was used by the Stokely Canning Company for their canned pumpkin operation until they were bought out by Chiquita and shut down about seven years ago (putting an end to commercial canning-pumpkin farming in our area. Back to corn and soybeans, everyone). It exhibits a fair amount of variability in shape and color but makes excellent pies and is very good in other types of squash dishes as well. Most fruits are similar to Golden Delicious Hubbard, swelling and rounded around the stem, but are not quite so pointed at the blossom end. Thick yellow-orange flesh. $3.00/pkt. LIMITED QUANTITIES ONLY

Old Blue

95 to 100 days-5 to 10 pounds-serene dark green with muted gold spots and blotches. Vining habit. This squash is one of my personal favorites. Its rich and strong-flavored orange-yellow flesh is housed in a variety of shapes and sizes, from a large top or UFO (big in the middle, tapering at both ends) to a short football to the shape and size of a typical buttercup. This one will stick to your ribs-almost meaty when cooked. From Glenn Drowns. $4.00/pkt. VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES

Galeux D'Eysines

95 to 100 days-12 to 25 pounds-pink with beige scars. Vining habit. One of the most unusual squash I have seen, and yummy, too. Shaped like a big (or small) wheel of cheese, Galeux D'Eysines is not ribbed but does feature a large number of raised bumps and scars over most of its surface, to the point that some of them look like they are studded with peanuts. Very beautiful? Very ugly? You make the call. Apparently this unique squash was unknown in the United States prior to its discovery at the 1996 Pumpkin Fair in Tranzault, France. $4.00/pkt. VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES

Candy Roaster

95 days-10 to 18 pounds-various combinations of pink and blue, some all pink with bluish-green stars at the blossom end, some all blue with pink blotches. Vining habit. Can be bumpy on top. This square-shouldered, blocky squash comes highly recommended for baking. Also known as Candy Roaster Melon Squash, of all things. (Not to be confused with the Georgia Candy Roaster squash, which is more or less indistinguishable from Jumbo Pink Banana.) Has been traced back to North Carolina. $4.00/pkt. VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES

Nepalese

100 days-12 to 25 pounds-deep brownish-grey mottled with blue-gray, or blue-gray mottled with light blue, or just plain pink. Vining habit. Tan-seeded type. I am really excited about this one. Deeply ribbed, this satisfying squash features a variety of shapes, most of them swelling out from the stem to broad, lobed shoulders and then tapering away slowly to a rounded blossom end. Nepalese's stems are very strong and upright for a maxima, and whatever their color, they are all covered with minute circular indentations independent of the color patterns, giving them a very rich overall texture. As they age in storage the blue types start to blush pink around the stem and at the blossom end, and (I think) the pink types start to show more blue. Presumably they are from Nepal, but my Nepalese friend Nav could neither confirm nor deny this fact. Indications are that this variety has excellent keeping qualities, with very firm bright yellow flesh that takes forever to bake, but is well worth the wait. Our sample baker produced the most excellent pies, for texture and taste. Nav had three pieces. $4.00/pkt. VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES

Mayo Blusher

100 days-7 to 10 pounds-pale blue or white with a pattern of very slight indentations, supposedly blushing pink at maturity (we have not witnessed this yet). Vining habit. Shaped like a football, but less pointy at the ends. The Mayo (or Yoreme) are a Native American people of western Mexico who have given their name to a number of vegetable varieties. $3.50/pkt. VERY LIMITED QUANTITIES

Green Delicious Hubbard

105 days-6 to 12 pounds-mottled deep green, sometimes with brown or red highlights. Vining habit. Golden Delicious Hubbard's beautiful mother. Swelling and rounded around the stem, the fruits taper to a point at the blossom end, with thick, great-tasting yellow flesh. Gorgeous. According to old descriptions this may be very close to the original Delicious squash, released by Gregory & Sons in 1903 and advertised as "By Universal Assent The Best Squash Ever Produced." (Gregory also said that "about every variety we ever knew enters into its composition.") Delicious was one of the main engines of the ascendance of the maximas over the pepos in popularity in the early part of the 20th century. SORRY--NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON--This is one of our signature items and we regret the hiatus--MUST BUILD UP SEED STOCK

Golden Delicious Hubbard

95 days-8 to 14 pounds-pale to brilliant orange. Vining habit. Introduced in 1926, this tasty squash is a cross between Delicious and Boston Marrow, two of the most esteemed squash varieties of all time. It was intended as a canning squash and is often used for baby food, being high in Vitamin A. Similar in shape to Green Delicious Hubbard, but our present strain exhibits more variation in this regard than we would like. $15.00/4 oz. ; $8.00/oz. ; $2.00/pkt.

New England Blue Hubbard

120 days-15 to 35 pounds-pale blue, sometimes shading to grey, usually with tiny tan spots and scars. Vining habit. Today the most widely known and grown of the hubbards. Conjectured to be a cross between the original Hubbard squash (see the True Green Hubbard below) and one of two blue varieties, Marblehead or Middleton Blue. Introduced in 1909. Since then the variety has separated into a smaller, smoother strain ("Blue Hubbard") and a larger, rougher "New England" strain. New England Blue Hubbard's homely and sometimes bizarre looks conceal a high-quality yellow interior, preferred by some for pumpkin pie and other culinary delights. Under favorable conditions these squash can be monstrous, ribbed like a stocking cap near the stem, ballooning out lopsidedly in the midsection, then contracting and thrusting to a beard-like point at the blossom end-and covered with bumps and warts to boot. $15.00/4 oz. ; $8.00/oz. ; $2.00/pkt.

Chicago Warted Hubbard

100 days-10 to 16 pounds-burnished dark green (often with lighter grey-green stripes at the blossom end) fading to a rich brown with brownish-grey stripes at maturity. Vining habit. An extremely warty hubbard developed from the original Hubbard squash at Chicago's Budlong Gardens and introduced in 1894. Round and fat in the middle, with kind of a shouldery cap at the stem end and a modest point at the blossom end. Also known as (for some reason) Toledo Warted Hubbard. SORRY--NOT AVAILABLE THIS YEAR--RE-SELECTING FOR SIZE AND TASTE

Golden Hubbard

95 to 100 days-8 to 15 pounds-pale orange to vivid red-orange, with a few cream-colored and blue-green stripes at the blossom end. Vining habit. Introduced in 1898 as a flashy alternative to the original Hubbard squash, which was considered rather drab compared to the bright orange (and very popular) Boston Marrow. Its parentage seems to be a mystery. Tends to be slightly curved overall, with a pronounced "cap" at the stem end, swelling to a bumpy and warty middle, and tapering gracefully to a pointy blossom end. Was also known as Genesee Red Hubbard. $15.00/4 oz. ; $8.00/oz. ; $1.50/pkt.

True Green Hubbard

105 days-15 to 35 pounds-dark green (occasionally with gorgeous bronze highlights) with paler green-grey stripes running up from the blossom end. The original Hubbard-at one time "the best known and most universally grown of all winter squash" (Vegetables of New York, 1937)-may be lost in the sands of time, as it was considerably smaller than this strain, but of all the hubbards this one is the most true to their illustrious ancestry. There are several different versions of the origin of this variety, but the most educated guess seems to be that it arrived in New England prior to 1798 from somewhere in the Caribbean or South America. Tasty bright-yellow flesh. Tends to have the most graceful lines of the various (non-"Delicious") hubbards, rounding down from the stem, flaring out in the middle, and tapering to a point at the blossom end, with only a few very slight bumps. This strain is capable of producing huge specimens. A.k.a. True Hubbard, Green Hubbard, Green Mountain. $12.00/4 oz. ; $8.00/oz. ; $1.50/pkt.

Sweet Meat

105 days-12 to 20 pounds-periwinklish clear pale blue, with a very light texture of darker blue indentations. Yellow flesh is perhaps the thickest of any table-quality variety, making it quite heavy for its size. Unique rounded shape, flaring out in a very long and shallow downward curve from the stem to the hefty middle, then tapering at a slightly deeper angle (and in a straight line) to the blossom end. An heirloom from the Pacific Northwest, now fairly common in the trade. Introduced by the Gill Bros. Seed Company of Portland, Oregon. Favored for pies, but tasty in any squash dish. $12.00/4 oz. ; $8.00/oz. ; $1.50/pkt.

Turban

100 days-5 to 10 pounds-shockingly multicolored, in various patterns but most commonly bright red with creamy white streaks on top and boldly striped in red, dark green and white on the protuberant bottom. This venerable variety seems to have gone through many permutations since its introduction to this country from France around 1800 (although some sources trace the modern strain back only to 1869, when "American Turban" was introduced), but there is now a fairly stable type that is commonly seen as an ornamental in almost every catalogue and on farms across the country. (The most common name for this variety is actually "Turk's Turban," but that seems vaguely offensive to me.) At various times it has been known as Giraumon, California, and, unhelpfully, Acorn (which the immature fruits were thought to resemble). The authors of Vegetables of New York seem to have been rather shocked by its capacity to protrude in multiple large bulbous blobs from the blossom end (referring to them as "plant monstrosities") and appear relieved that such excesses of excrescence were selected away from after 1850. One wonders how they would take the news that the pendulum has swung the other way again after a century of relative prudery and that prominent protuberances are once again being bred for. At the stem end Turbans flare out into a large doughnut shape (without the hole), and on the underside a corky ring nearly as big as the "doughnut" itself marks the area where most squashes would neatly seal themselves up, but where Turbans send out four (or sometimes three or five) rounded…what would you call them? Noses? At any rate, while Turbans (especially the more spectacular specimens) are still not without the capacity to shock, I think it is safe to say that most people these days find them quite beautiful. Turbans make a nice edible serving dish for soups and so on, and they are eaten and enjoyed, but really their strength is in the decorative rather than the culinary sphere. $20.00/4 oz. ; $10.00/oz. ; $2.50/pkt.

Burgess Buttercup

95 days-3 to 5 pounds-a very deep, hard-to-describe color, basically dark green but with brown, purple, blue and bronzey tones (and bronzey spots) also. Vining habit. Protuberance or recessed area on the bottom is a complementary grayish-greenish-blue color, and similarly-colored stripes sometimes radiate up from here towards the shoulders of the fruit. Unusual blocky shape, running almost at right angles to the stem and then abruptly turning downward at the "shoulder," then curving slightly towards the blossom end, where there is almost always a somewhat Turban-like area inside a corky ring, either protruding in a knobbly way or curving back concavely toward the center of the fruit. The ancient-looking, gnarled stems also hook at a right angle in many cases. Round when viewed from the top. The original Buttercup was introduced in 1931 from a chance cross between Quality (itself a descendant of Delicious) and Essex Hybrid discovered at the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station in 1925. Very highly regarded for taste, texture and dependability, it was intended "to take the place of the sweet potato in the gardens of North Dakota and the Northern Plains region" (Vegetables of New York). This variety, now the most common of the many types of Buttercups, was, if I had to guess, developed from the original Buttercup by the Burgess Seed Company. Seed cavity is very small, leaving lots of room for Burgess' excellent, thick, deep-orange flesh. Blocky shape makes it easy to trim off the skin on your cutting board. One of the best. $12.00/4 oz. ; $8.00/oz. ; $2.00/pkt.

Jarrahdale

100 days-12 to 20 pounds-various shades of blue-grey. Vining habit. A striking and tasty introduction from Australia (where blue pumpkins are the norm). Very deeply ribbed, usually wider than tall, and generally good-lookin'. Strong stems at the bottom of a shallow depression formed by the curving and flattening-out of the ribs. A great addition to any squash display. Jarrahdale has become common in this country only in the last few years, so many people are still surprised to encounter a blue pumpkin. $10.00/oz. ; $2.50/pkt.

Rouge Vif D'Etampes

100 days-18 to 30 pounds-one of the most spectacularly-colored of all cucurbits under ideal conditions, a jaw-dropping vivid red, sometimes with bold dark green splotches and/or brown tracery, and hints of yellow. (Can also be a not-so-spectacular pale orange and, occasionally, as small as 10 pounds.) Vining habit. Name means "Vivid Red of Etampes," Etampes being a village (?) in France, from whence this fine variety was introduced to the United States by Burpee in 1883. Usually nearly as flat as Boer (see above), more or less round when seen from the top, sometimes slightly ribbed, sometimes irregularly shaped with lopsided lumpy areas swelling from the bottom or sides (these last are quite charming). We have not had real good luck with these over the years-in the past they tended to rot for us as soon as they reached their colorful prime, or else to never get past a pale orange-yellow-but we continue to tinker in the hopes of developing a consistently fantastic strain for our climate. Also known as Cinderella due to early French illustrations of her pumpkin coach that resembled this variety. Deborah Madison, the famous author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, used to scoop out the seeds, fill these with cream and other goodies, and bake them for a piping-hot squash soup in the shell. $15.00/oz. ; $3.00/pkt.

Atlantic Giant

125 days-50 to 150 pounds-various shades of pale yellowish-orange. Vining habit. The largest fruit of any plant in the world, by far. Weights above 100 pounds can be achieved with basic gardening knowhow and no coddling of any kind, but the international champion-pumpkin-growing community has used various elaborate techniques to produce true "plant monstrosities" (see Turban, above) of over 1,000 pounds each. There is now an annual "Pumpkin Regatta" off the coast of Nova Scotia wherein people actually paddle themselves some distance while sitting and floating inside 500- to 700-pounders, now common enough to be cut open and used for this purpose somewhat casually. Introduced in 1978. Expertly bred by Nova Scotia seedsman Howard Dill from old varieties named Goderich Giant, Genuine Mammoth, and Mammoth Tours. Shape can be kind of irregular, but Atlantic Giant is generally widely ribbed, swelling out from the stem and tapering to a narrower blossom end, like a cartoon man with his chest puffed out. Due to their massive weight, they are always flat on the side where they rest on the ground, unless you baby them on a bed of straw and so forth. Huge leaves and vines. $15.00/oz. ; $3.00/pkt.