The World's Biggest Pumpkin Comes to New York

The world’s largest pumpkin has arrived at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx to live out the rest of its epic life.The 2,528 pound squash is the largest pumpkin  ever grown in North America. Grown by Steve Geddes in New Hampshire, the pumpkin is a pale orange and weighs the equivalent of two adult grizzly bears.

Geddes says he planted the seeds for the giant pumpkin back in April of this year, and by the time the pumpkin was ready to be harvested, the plant—which bore only one fruit— extended across 1,300 square feet. Geddes described the leaves of the mature plant as “elephant-ear sized.”

Families and pumpkin-enthusiasts alike flocked to the Botanical Gardens over the weekend to mark the giant squash’s arrival.

On Sunday afternoon viewers were treated to an unusual sight — a giant pumpkin seed harvest. At 1pm sharp, Geddes zipped himself into a white hazmat-like suit, stuck a flashlight between his teeth, and shimmied into the belly of the pumpkin to gather the squash’s precious seeds. At one point he called in backup, and a second man zipped up and joined him in the hollowed-out pumpkin. While Geddes wasn’t sure if it was the first time two grown men have been in a pumpkin together, he was fairly certain it was the first time the phenomena had happened at the Botanical Gardens.

Many visitors expressed their delight with the sheer size of the pumpkin.

E.J. Harrison from Hoboken, New Jersey said the surreal size of the pumpkin made it seem fake at first, “It’s like one of those mega-beachball things you might see, its so large it’s funny.”

The giant pumpkin will stay on display through Halloween, while the squash’s precious seeds are sent around the world to growers who want to try their hand at giant-pumpkin growing.