PUMPKIN CO.What to buy, and in what proportion.
Counts are useful if you are buying our display. Shares are useful if you are buying your own, at whatever size your budget reaches.
Across Penn Pumpkin Co's four porch displays, small pie pumpkins are between a quarter and a half of the total, large pumpkins hold at roughly a fifth, and specialty pumpkins climb from 18% of the smallest display to more than a quarter of the two largest.
Every display we sell, as percentages.
Each display's counts, divided by its own total. The column closest to the size you are aiming at gives you the mix to buy in.
| Grade | A Touch of Fall | Pumpkin Pop | Pumpkin Paradise | Pumpkin Palooza |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand prize pumpkins | — | — | — | 4% |
| Large pumpkins | 18% | 21% | 22% | 19% |
| Medium pumpkins | 18% | 21% | 22% | 15% |
| Pie pumpkins | 45% | 36% | 28% | 35% |
| Specialty pumpkins | 18% | 21% | 28% | 27% |
| Counted pumpkins | 22 | 28 | 36 | 52 |
The percentages cover pumpkins only. Hay bales, white ghost pumpkins, minis, and gourds sit outside the totals.
Three patterns across the four displays.
Small fruit is the biggest share. Pie pumpkins are the largest single line in three of our four displays. Buy the large ones first and the small ones last and the budget runs out on the pumpkins doing most of the filling.
Large pumpkins hold steady. They sit between a fifth and a quarter of the total in every one of the four, 18% in the smallest display and 19% in the largest. Scaling up does not mean proportionally more of them.
Specialty is where the money goes as you scale. From 18% of our smallest display to more than a quarter of the two largest. Specialty pumpkins carry the color, and the palette page sets out how the colors work together.
Applying it at your own size.
If you are buying thirty pumpkins, work in shares: roughly a third small, a fifth large, a fifth medium, and the rest specialty. If you are buying ten, the same proportions hold, and the display simply covers less frontage.
The other half of the job is what pumpkins cost where you live. DIY versus hiring a decorator puts our counts beside your local prices, and you do the arithmetic.
Questions about what to buy.
What proportion of a pumpkin display should be large pumpkins?
About a fifth. In all four of our displays the large pumpkins sit between a fifth and a quarter of the total, and that share barely moves as the displays get bigger.
How many small pumpkins does a display need?
Pie pumpkins are between a quarter and a half of the total in every display we sell, so small fruit is the largest single share of what you buy.
What is a specialty pumpkin, and how many should I buy?
Specialty pumpkins are the heirloom varieties that carry the color in a display. Their share rises with the size of the display, from 18% of our smallest to more than a quarter of the two largest.
Should I buy the same number of every size?
No display we sell is built that way. Equal counts across the grades give you a flat display, because the small fruit closes the gaps between the larger pieces.
More in this guide.
The full guide is Building a pumpkin display yourself, which covers the lot in one place.
Or take our list and our pumpkins.
A DIY delivery brings the pumpkins we picked to your door, and you arrange them.
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