It’s September 25 and the high is 97 degrees–nevertheless, fall is in the air at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. The crown jewel of the Autumn at the Arboretum festival, the famous Pumpkin Village, returned this week for the 14th year. This time, the garden’s fall fantasy is modeled after the cinematic theme, “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” The 66-acre exhibit is on view through October 31.
If you’ve never been to the Pumpkin Village, consider a trek. There are 90,000 pumpkins, gourds, and squash, which have been transformed into charming cottages and monuments; 3,000 ears of corn and 1,500 corn stalks; 900 bales of hay; and hundreds of thousands of fall-blooming flowers and plants. New this year are a 15-foot-tall Great Pumpkin topiary, a pumpkin doghouse for Snoopy, a Lucy topiary outside of her “Garden Advice Hut,” a Peanuts gang school house, and more.
It’s an ideal place to take kids, babies who are too young to object to an embarrassing fall photoshoot (put that pumpkin in a pumpkin!), elder family members, dates who you’d like to put in the friend zone, bloggers of any kind, and all lovers of pumpkin spice.
The garden is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and admission starts at $12. If you want to visit the Children’s Garden, you’ll need a combo ticket. Pro tip: Parking is $6 cheaper when you buy your parking pass online.