![happy halloween by yellow colorwell happy halloween by yellow colorwell](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JnAlTuZf1OA/ViLZH4yoJtI/AAAAAAAABt0/WtYQZITr3Xw/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/Halloween-Happy%2BHalloween%2BSignUntitled.jpg)
If you decide to treat your winter squashes like pumpkins and carve them or use them as holiday decor, no one will object. If you want to call your pumpkins winter squashes because they seem squashy to you, that’s perfectly fine. Winter squash and pumpkins are interchangeable in recipes as far as flavor is concerned. As a result, one seed company may call a certain species a pumpkin while another calls that species a winter squash, so don’t let the contradictions stress you out too much. Pumpkins, it is generally agreed, are a subset of winter squash, but it hasn’t been determined exactly which species are pumpkins instead of simply squashes.
#HAPPY HALLOWEEN BY YELLOW COLORWELL HOW TO#
Scientifically, the distinction between a pumpkin, a winter squash, and a squash is blurry, and there is no consensus when it comes to how to distinguish between these categories. The individual species types that include varieties we refer to as pumpkins mostly fall under Cucurbita pepo, but there are some plants called pumpkins that come from the Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita argyrosperma, Cucurbita ficifolia, or Cucurbita moschata species instead.
![happy halloween by yellow colorwell happy halloween by yellow colorwell](https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/vector-halloween-illustration-decorative-yellow-color-pumpkin-vector-halloween-illustration-decorative-yellow-color-pumpkin-129829319.jpg)
Pumpkins are members of the Cucurbita genus, a group of herbaceous vine plants that includes pumpkins as well as cantaloupes, summer squash, watermelons, winter squash, zucchini, and gourds.
![happy halloween by yellow colorwell happy halloween by yellow colorwell](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/87/42/b4/8742b4f35efcc2d1cee94ab70a7cb64d.jpg)
It’s probably best to decide which broad category you’re interested in growing, then hone in on the varieties we recommend that fall under that category to narrow the field a bit. Before getting down to the varieties, we’ll cover the basic pumpkin types. Sure, this is a long list of pumpkin varieties, but it’s nothing compared to the dizzying number of options in seed catalogs and on gardening websites. The task of choosing a few favorites to grow is enough to make a gardener’s head spin. And that doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of what’s available when it comes to flesh colors, stem shapes and shades, and the shapes of the pumpkins themselves. Some pumpkins have smooth surfaces, others have pronounced ribs, and a few are covered in warty lumps and bumps. You’ll even find varieties that are a varnished shoe-polish black. Pumpkins can come in shades from the palest ghostly white to powdery gray-blue, rosy pink, brick red, and every imaginable hue of yellow, orange, and green. They’re simply an extraordinarily diverse vegetable, ranging in size from four ounces up through more than 1,000 pounds, so some are itsy bitsy, while others are absolutely enormous. Pumpkins come in a huge number of heirloom and hybrid varieties for gardeners to choose from. But the truth is, there’s so much more to the world of pumpkin varieties than the standard orange Halloween lanterns. When you hear the word “pumpkin,” more than likely the image that springs to mind is a ribbed orange squash that’s fat and round-maybe your imaginary pumpkin is carved into a grinning jack o’lantern, or maybe not.