Rodrigvitz Style

Rain Brings Life to the Mango Studio...and Remembering Maxine

The rains of the past few days have turned the view outside the Mango Studio bright spring green, flowers blooming, basil, tomatoes and cucumbers thriving.....bird song chattering, Melly taking it all in.

I have started a Garden Journal where I am tracking the growth in the garden, new things planted, old varieties kept up with.....drawings of the ever changing view pepper the pages.

The bright green leaves bring back memories of our time with Maxine....the pages remind me of the fast pace of the life of this giant pumpkin and how much fun we had watching her grow!

If you'd like to learn more about this magnificent gourd, I have a few copies of Maxine for sale HERE....

The Orange Season...Approaches

 

It's early....I know, but the Marigolds are blooming, enjoying these fall- like cool days....

they have me ramping up for this celebration!

(stamped images on 5" x 7" painted clay board)

 

and this showed up in the mail....yes, a little surprise that I've been keeping a secret...

 

Maxine is back....

  

a short look back at Maxine, that glorious gourd!

Monday's With Maxine, the Fat Lady Sang....

Doesn't she look beautiful??  Her perfect color and stem and shape....but...sadly...

it is over.  The poor dear will not make it to the competition or be carved into a beautiful Halloween Jack-o-Lantern.  She has begun to rot...

and... so Chris does not end up with 500 lbs of pumpkin rot Maxine will be composted.

What fun we have had!!!  Thank you Maxine for a great run, we all grew to love you!!

xo
steph

Monday's With Maxine, It Happens

All looked well....but Love-Lies-Bleeding must have sensed it....

The rooster and Jack be Little were talking....they must have known....

Maxine split....it happens to big pumpkins, especially when they approach 500 lbs.

This from Chris,

Such a bummer, but this kind of crack is a fairly common occurance with pumpkins in the 400-500 pound range.  After doing a little research, I think it was probably due to a sudden overwatering (we had that great rain and then I think I watered too much, too soon) and I think her shape also contributed to an overstress of the blossom end area, which is the weakest part of the pumpkin.  She's still growing- measured at right around 500 this morning.  Unfortunately, this means that the crack will more than likely continue to worsen.  A crack means automatic disqualification from any competition- if she stays together by the Flower Bin contest (Oct. 6) I'll still take her down there to be weighed and enter her just for exhibition.

While I don't see much hope of keeping her together, Joe (aka Mr. Gorilla tape) has taken this opportunity to use some manly products like foaming insulation to fill the cracks and, of course, Gorilla tape to try to ease some of the stress of her weight.  He's quite pleased with his work.  We'll see what happens!

Although I am certainly disappointed with this turn of events for Maxine, it has also been a good reminder of what's really important in life, and how you just have to go with the flow.  Bad things happen to good pumpkins.

I would like to take this opportunity to give a sincere and heartfelt THANK YOU first of all to you Stephanie for creating such a wonderful and inspired story (like everything in your blog- truly amazing and beautiful), and also for all the people who took the time to post comments-  I have looked forward to Mondays and have loved every comment!!!!  Thanks again!

Fondly, Chris

We'll stay in touch.....because who knows??  Maxine has proven to be resilient in the past....she may just keep going and going....

Monday's With Maxine, the Large and Small of it

She almost does not seem real....this amazing growing Maxine.  This week she gained 140 lbs and is weighing in at 369!!

Truly these fantastic vegetables must be the inspiration for Audrey II, that other giant, fast growing plant.

Maxine and the little Rooster have been joined by one of Chris's daughters miniature Jack be Little pumpkins.  I hope the little Rooster is not afraid of heights!

Chris and gang called me over to visit with another garden friend....Manter, not to be confused with Manti, the praying mantis that Chris's daughter raised since birth. 

Manter is a wild praying mantis that they found in the garden.  I missed a magical event earlier in the day when Manter shed her skin.  As she shrugged it off, still clinging to the new bright green wings she looked like a fairy princess in a gossamer dress. 

It is considered good luck in China to hold a praying mantis....we all took turns....

Manter was in no particular hurry to leave this beautiful garden so we played..... Manter on Maxine for a photo op....

You lookin at me?

Mantur in the sunflowers...

A giant bumble bee sharing the sunflowers.

Oh what will next week bring??

Monday's With Maxine....and more Wildlife

Monday finds us with Maxine and the Little Rooster again....Maxine has gained 135 lbs since last Sunday!

Wanted to capture some photo's of her stem side for you....she has such a beautiful, perfect shape.  How does she gain SO much weight so quickly and stay so wonderfully proportioned?  Don't you all want to know her secret?

Oh look, Mr Rodrigvitz Style sitting amongst the pumpkin leaves...perfectly color coordinated.

Little Rooster is AMAZED....Maxine is measuring about 228 lbs today.  She was pollinated 28 days ago.

Some comparisons....Victoria was 151 lbs at 28 days old last year.  She also has 200 lbs on Maxine for the exact same date but...remember the little set back...AND, sheesh...Maxine can make up nearly 200 lbs in a week.  It will be very interesting to see how Maxine looks in October....can you say Mac Truck?

I promised more wildlife....here is Chris's daughter with her little pet, Manti, who she has raised from an egg.

Can you see that look on its face?  He (she?) was quite captivated with Mr. R's yellow cycling shirt and Chris's daughter has such a wealth of information for all things buggy we learned an awful lot about the Praying Mantis. 

Monday's With Maxine, You Go Girl!!

She's growing now!  Maxine is putting on the weight, just like a good giant pumpkin should do. 

She gained 80 lbs since last Sunday and 20 lbs since yesterday!!  Yes....you heard me right...20 lbs! since yesterday!

So just how DO you determine how much a pumpkin weighs?  Chris gave me this handy dandy chart (click here and read all about it) that she uses to estimate the weight.  There are 2 types of estimations, over-the-top inches and by circumference.  Using these two methods, Maxine is weighing in right at about 100 lbs!!

Chris visited some pumpkin patches of the 'big ole guys' this weekend.  They have all the bells and whistles...fully covered gardens, tanks of warmed water, computerized misting systems that run 24/7. 

I won't tell you how big a couple of those pumpkins are....I don't want to give Maxine a complex.  After all, she's just a well cared for pumpkin growing in a humble little patch and she's doing just fine!

 

Monday's With Maxine, Let's Put this in Perspective

She's growing.....the vines are growing....I had a hard time crawling under the tarp with Maxine because the vines are huge!... but realized she doesn't appear to be much larger in the photo's I took.

Needs some frame of reference I think........I looked around the garden.....

This little, lively, colorful rooster was crowing down at me....she will be the perfect companion for Maxine in the coming weeks to REALLY give you an idea of her size.

Yes, I think I'll photograph the rooster with Maxine from now on so you can get a better idea as she continues to grow.

Chris, being the sweetie she is, let's me cut some lovely zinnia's to make summer bouquet's for the kitchen....well she was camping this weekend but I know she won't mind that I cut myself a few!

Such a great way to make a sunny, colorful start to the week....

 

Monday's With Maxine, It's a Girl!

OK...this was magical....under the pumpkin tarp in Maxine's world.  A soft blanket for her to rest on.

This is Maxine, she is a bit larger than a softball, perfect shiny yellow with slightly fuzzy skin.  Last year on August 3rd Chris had a 150lb pumpkin.  Maxine has had some set backs, she lost 2 weeks of growing time and there may be some continued struggle with the vine, but Chris is the proud mother and deservingly so.

We lay on our stomach's looking through the vines in the cool shade of the tarp.  We could be fairies sitting on these big, flat leaves.

Then rolled over to our backs to see the perfect blue sky.  No better nursery could you ask for.

Here is another beautiful plant in Chris' garden.  Every bit as impressive as Maxine's large exquisite flowers and showy vines is this little plant...Love in a Puff...do you just adore this name??  The tiniest perfect flowers and these little puffs, so very much like Chinese origami balls that you blow into to expand.

Inside...are these seeds...a perfect little heart.  The seed will darken to black with the white heart.

Small miracles everywhere you look.

Monday's With Maxine, It's Getting Interesting Now!

It's time!!  Bright and early Sunday morning...after the Fiesta (good thing we didn't have too many Margaritas!!!) I met Chris and Joe in the garden.  She gathered a bouquet of male flowers.....

dun dun da dun.....dun dun da dun....a walk down the aisle to the ready female flower that Chris hopes will become Maxine the giant pumpkin.  We couldn't help getting silly with this whole pumpkin propagation process.

Chris knew yesterday that the blossom would open this morning, so last night she used a twist tie to close the flower to ensure a bee that may have been visiting her daughters' Jack-be-Little pumpkin plant did not accidentally pollinate this flower.

This is the flower....the one she hopes to become Maxine....right after she removed the twist tie.  It's a 5 lobe! and such a rich incredible color, the scent of these blossoms is so exotic...almost smells of Plumeria.

She strips the petals off the male flowers and gently rubs the pollen all around the lobes of the blossom.  She used the pollen from 5 male flowers. 

There were bees in the male flowers....rolling and lounging and so enjoying the pollen.  Is this like catnip for bees?  Just my theory....no science here.

The flower is tied shut again to keep the bees out.  We'll know quickly, in a day or so, if this worked...

Anyone have a cigarette? :)