What happens at 78-790 Darby Road during the other 49 weeks of the year? Most Bermuda Dunes families know the address for one reason. This is the seventh year All Color Growers has opened its pumpkin patch, and its final weekend runs October 30 through November 1. The pumpkins sit on top of a working wholesale nursery that sells to the public all year, and The Desert Sun's photos from setup day show it plainly. Lavender is mixed in among the pumpkins, and co-owner Ashley Rosales is shown moving flowers to make room for them.
After Sunday, November 1, the hay bales and petting zoo leave, and the flowers stay. The nursery goes back to a schedule built around early mornings, in the weeks when the Coachella Valley Water District's gardening calendar says fall planting is still possible.
The final three nights of the patch
The Desert Sun reported that, according to Ashley Rosales, 18,000 pounds of pumpkins were hauled in from Manteca, a seven-hour drive from the Coachella Valley. Prices run from $5 to $20 depending on size and type. The patch also has a petting zoo, a corn pit, food vendors, face painting, live music, kiddie barrel rides and photo setups.
The free opening night was October 16 and is over. Admission for the rest of the run is $10 for anyone 12 and older and $5 for children ages 2 through 11. Children under 11 get in free before 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The final weekend runs on this schedule:
- Friday, October 30: 5 to 8 p.m.
- Saturday, October 31: noon to 8 p.m., with a trunk-or-treat event.
- Sunday, November 1: noon to 8 p.m., the patch's final day.
For families with young children, Halloween has the most going on: trunk-or-treat in the evening, plus free entry for kids under 11 if you arrive before 3 p.m. Sunday is the last chance at whatever pumpkins are left.
The patch is a family operation that has come back year after year. Isaac Rosales told The Desert Sun what keeps it going:
"We love seeing the community show up every year. The same faces we see every year come back, and we're seeing these kids grow from barely-can-walk to now they're full-on grownups."
The same paper reported that volunteers from LifeHouse Church Coachella helped unload and set up the grounds on October 14.
The same gate, on a very different schedule
The patch hours are evenings and weekend afternoons, which is when families are free. The nursery's regular hours suit landscapers and early risers. Here they are side by side:
| Pumpkin patch, through Nov. 1 | Nursery hours on allcolorgrowers.com | |
|---|---|---|
| Monday to Thursday | Closed | 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Friday | 5 to 8 p.m. | 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Saturday | Noon to 8 p.m. | 7 to 10 a.m. |
| Sunday | Noon to 8 p.m. | Closed |
Neither schedule overlaps with the other. The patch opens at the hours the nursery is normally closed. After the patch ends, a resident who works weekdays gets one three-hour window on Saturday morning to walk the rows. On a Saturday, show up at 7 a.m., not at noon.
What's growing behind the pumpkins
The company's homepage calls All Color Growers "a Wholesale nursery open to the public." It's self-service, so you walk the nursery yourself, pick your plants and flowers, and staff answer questions. The nursery also takes appointments through its booking page.
Its fall annuals catalog lists the classic desert winter color: petunias, snapdragons, violas and pansies. The company also offers custom growing, planting, landscape design and installation, and year-round maintenance for homes and commercial properties. Those flats can come home with you, or the nursery can plant them for you.
The family has been growing plants in the valley for a long time. According to the company's about page, Isaac Rosales is a second-generation grower whose parents ran Rosales Nursery in Thermal for more than 15 years. He and Ashley both studied plant science and run the business together. The Desert Sun describes the patch as the time each late October when the nursery "transforms into the valley's primary pumpkin patch." The rest of the year, it's a nursery.
November is still planting season, with slower roots
The patch closes in the back half of the valley's most important planting season. CVWD's gardening guide, Lush & Efficient, says that season starts September 15 and peaks by October 15. That's when winter and spring annuals like petunias, snapdragons and pansies are set into their beds, so roots can grow while the soil is still warm.
The guide's October entry fits a late-October trip to Darby Road well. It describes October as a month when "planting of most everything continues through the month" and "nurseries are loaded with fresh plants in containers, flats and pots." For November, it says to keep planting if you missed October, but plants will establish more slowly as temperatures drop. Wildflower seed has its own deadline. October is the best month to sow, and sowing can continue until mid-November.
The UC Master Gardener Program of Riverside County also names October and November as the best planting months. Its list of cool-weather bedding plants includes calendula, pansy, snapdragon, primrose and viola, and its November notes say that's the best time to plant trees and shrubs.
Three details from the CVWD calendar help with a November visit:
- Hold the citrus. The guide says to wait until spring to plant cold-tender tropical and subtropical plants such as citrus, unless your yard has a microclimate sheltered from wind and cold.
- Shop Texas rangers by color. They bloom in October, November and into December. The guide calls this a good time to visit a nursery and choose by flower color, with more than a dozen selections available.
- Give tired soil a break. If petunias, snapdragons and pansies have grown in the same bed for years, the guide suggests a fungicide or moving the annuals to a new spot to prevent die-off.
Taken together, the calendar puts the patch's final weekend at the end of the strongest planting stretch and the start of a slower one. Annuals bought on a Saturday morning in early November still have time to establish. They just do it at the pace CVWD describes for cooler weather.
Two trips to Darby Road, one week apart
For a Bermuda Dunes household, this works out to two visits to the same address under very different conditions.
The first is the final patch weekend, October 30 through November 1. Friday evening, Saturday afternoon with trunk-or-treat, or Sunday afternoon for the last of the 18,000 pounds. The flats of color are part of the backdrop.
The second is Saturday, November 7, between 7 and 10 a.m., or any weekday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. The pumpkins are gone and the nursery is set up for planting season again. You walk the rows with a cart and pick your petunias, violas and snapdragons yourself. If the yard needs more than an afternoon's work, the landscaping services page lists design, installation and ongoing maintenance. Hours can change, so check allcolorgrowers.com before heading out.
Sarah grew up in this valley, and James spent his career in hospitality, so a front yard planted for winter is something we notice. Flowers at the entry are part of how a desert home looks from the street, for a holiday party or for a listing photo. If your November planting has you wondering what your Bermuda Dunes home is worth, Sarah & James Pearce are happy to talk it through. Get a Free Home Valuation, and we'll give you an honest read on your home's value going into the season.
