Prague's Botanical Garden celebrates Halloween with ghosts, pumpkins, and more

Prague's Botanical Garden recently celebrated the autumn season with some festive harvest displays, and through the second half of October visitors to the outdoor locale with get a chance to spot ghosts, witches, and other spooky decor amid the garden's color-changing flora.

Special Halloween displays arranged by students from the Czech Horticultural Academy in Mělník can be seen throughout Prague's Botanical Garden from this weekend through October 31. During that span, two additional events will give guests the opportunity to have even more Halloween fun.

In addition to the Halloween displays, a pumpkin exhibition at the Botanical Garden features some of the biggest pumpkins collected from around the Czech Republic. They include the biggest ever grown, a 175-kilogram pumpkin named Larsen.

The massive pumpkin, of the Atlantic Giant variety, was grown by Jan Staňek from Horní Bludovice in the Czech Republic's Moravian-Silesian Region, and carefully transported to the Botanical Garden by van.

According to the Botanical Garden, Larsen is the largest pumpkin ever grown in the Czech Republic; the previous record holder was 145 kilograms. In international competitions, the record for an Atlantic Giant pumpkin is over 1,000 kilograms.

Other pumpkins on display at Prague's Botanical Garden over the next two weeks include one of the smallest varieties, Baby Boo, and a large Czech breed, Goliáš.

Ghosts, witches, and other spooky displays can primarily be seen at the Botanical Garden's North American prairie, which features flora from the United States and Canada and gives the seasonal event a fitting backdrop.

In addition to the displays, two special events will give families a chance to have some additional Halloween fun. Next weekend, October 23-24, the Botanical Garden's Pumpkin Games event will gives guests the opportunity to decorate pumpkins of their own, which can be purchased on site.

On Sunday, October 31, a special Halloween event at the Botanical Garden will include pumpkin carving, face painting, musical performances, and an evening parade with scary masks.

The Halloween and pumpkin exhibitions at Prague's Botanical Garden, as well as the special Halloween events, are included in the Garden's standard admission fee, which runs 100 crowns for adults and 45 crowns for children.

More information about the events can be found at the Botanical Garden's official website.