Dallas Arboretum Unveils Massive Village Made From 50,000 Pumpkins!

Everything's bigger in Texas -- including the pumpkin patches. The weekend before Halloween is a big one for the <a href="http://www.dallasarboretum.org/index.htm">Dallas Arboretum</a>. Between the <a href="http://www.dallasarboretum.org/chihuly/index.htm">Dale Chihuly exhibit</a> and the hay bale maze, there's plenty to see and do at the 66-acre arboretum, but on Sunday the biggest draw might have been the <a href="http://www.dallasarboretum.org/AutumnAtTheArboretum/index.htm">pumpkin patch</a>. This year's pumpkin village has grown to include an astounding 50,000 pumpkins (up from 40,000 in 2010). One thing is certain: they won't be running out of pumpkins any time soon. Click through to see our photos.

"Small" and "modest" aren't in Dallas residents' vocabularies.

Some 45 different varieties of pumpkin and gourd have been formed into houses and other structures at the Cinderella-themed pumpkin village.

The pumpkin village was launched by the arboretum a few years ago, and it has swelled in size as its popularity has grown.

At the center of this year's pumpkin patch is Cinderella's pumpkin-shaped (of course) carriage, which is pulled by a couple of full-size topiary horses.

n our culture, pumpkins are used both as food and as decorations, but they're rarely used as a building material.

Using about 1,200 pumpkins and gourds, garden workers constructed whole houses that are meant to resemble Cinderella’s ballroom and the other houses from the folk tale.

The sheer scale of the pumpkin patch is pretty overwhelming.

Throughout the rest of the arboretum, pumpkins are found scattered throughout the gardens, lining beds of freshly-planted mums.

The pumpkin patch is part of the 'Autumn in the Arboretum' program, which also includes a popular Dale Chihuly exhibit and several music performances.

"Children will be enchanted to explore the houses, and adults will be amazed at the construction details," gushed the press release.

The Dallas Arboretum is located on the shore of White Rock Lake, a large reservoir in East Dallas.

About two-thirds of the 66-acre grounds are made up of land that was once part of the estate owned by geophysicist Everette Lee DeGolyer, and the 21,000-square-foot <a href="http://www.dallasarboretum.org/GeneralInformation/DeGolyerEstate.html">DeGolyer Estate</a>, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Place, still stands on the site.

In the spring, the arboretum will open another major attraction for young people.

Gourds and pumpkins are even strung up in the trees at the pumpkin patch.

Every inch of space in and around the pumpkin patch is covered with pumpkins.

The Dallas Arboretum's pumpkin village makes the roadside pumpkin patches found elsewhere look like child's play.

Construction is currently underway on the Rory Meyers Children's Adventure Garden, a new eight-acre theme park for kinds that will focus on earth science.

The pumpkin patch opened to the public in mid-September.

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The pumpkin patch will be on display until November 23.</div>