Plant of the Day: Gourds 'Birdhouse'
Photo of Gourd 'Birdhouse' (Lagenaria siceraria)

Photo by Cornell University


Gourds!


Useful, beautiful, fun, weird. Gourds have been grown for thousands of years, mainly because the fruits can be made into containers for food and water, thanks to their dense skins that dry and harden to something very like wood. The fruits come in many shapes - some are long, curving tubes, some are narrow at one end, globe-shaped at the other end (the “birdhouse” and “dipper” gourds), and some have sharp bumps and ridges that could be dragon hide.


The plant is in the cucumber family and its parentage is complicated and includes several species, but current varieties have been bred to come true from seeds. No matter the variety, the plant is a vigorous annual vine with hairy, scratchy stems, somewhat like a cucumber vine. It blooms with small five-petalled flowers that are white, hairy, veined and ruffled. It needs warm soil and hot weather to grow at full speed, to bloom and to mature its fruits.


A mature fruit will dry naturally if given a warm spot and rotated once in a while. The skin hardens, the flesh and seeds inside dry out, and the gourd can be varnished, carved, and painted to make craft pieces, or pierced and emptied to make a birdhouse. Here’s a website with some good examples of craft gourds. For instructions on making a special gourd birdhouse, here’s a site featuring craft gourds by Amish folks.


By Mark Kane - the Groundskeeper, YourGardenShow.com

Copyright © 2012 YourGardenShow.com

Want to read more about this plant and other varieties? Click here for the Gourd 'Birdhouse' (Lagenaria siceraria) Plant Page!

Plant Photo Tagging - How it Works

Video by Tom Finerty, founder YourGardenShow.com

Plant Photo Tagging allows you to turn any garden photo into a rich tapestry of what you have planted. It’s fun, informative, and helpful to others visiting your garden. As you photo tag, you can easily add plant names from our database and/or make notes about anything you’d like. To get started, sign-in and go to your Garden.


Click on any image in your garden's slideshow Carousel to get to full-view mode. Click on the “Tag” icon just below your photo and you are ready to tag! Simply click and drag your mouse over a plant or area you’d like to highlight or tag. A pop-up box will appear and ask for either a plant name or a note - add one or both, then click “tag” and you’ve just tagged your garden!


Write and tell us your suggestion for a "How it Works" video:
how-it-works@yourgardenshow.com


For more info contact: help@yourgardenshow.com

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Plant of the Day archive

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