In Texas, one woman is bringing seasonal magic to people's porches with her custom pumpkin displays.
Heather Torres and her team at Porch Pumpkins put together pumpkin packages that range from $325 to upwards of $1,000.
"Our largest package [comes] with two grand prize pumpkins and like 40 other pumpkins that come in all these different shapes, sizes, colors and varietals," Torres told "Good Morning America."
She added, "I thought, 'Would someone else spend $1,000 on pumpkins?' And turns out, yes, yes, they would."
The average price of an individual pumpkin varies based on factors such as weight and variety, but according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average retail price of a single Howden pumpkin, a variety often used for a jack-o'-lanterns, ranged from about $4.68 to $6.21 last fall, from September to October 2024.
For Torres, business is booming, with an increase of over 4,000% over the last five years.
"We go big in Texas, so birthday parties, Christmas, all of the things. And so, when we gave people the opportunity to go big for fall, it was just like, 'yes, yes, yes,'" Torres said.
Porch Pumpkins launched in 2020. On the company's website, Torres states that she started that season "thinking I would create 30 or so displays for family and friends," but was "blown away with how many people quickly booked me."
"We ended the season delivering and designing just over 250 homes!" she writes.
This year, Torres said Porch Pumpkins plans on sprucing up more than 1,300 homes.
She said the process requires attention to detail and a few tricks along the way.
"I perfected [what we call] 'the recipe' over the years, of just how many pumpkins, different sizes, colors, variety that you want to have a beautiful pumpkin display at your front door," Torres said.
She continued, "The second piece is the perfect pumpkin stacking method. There are so many little caveats and tricks that I teach them that really make your pumpkins picture-perfect. We just put so much love and care into each pumpkin display that we put out each year."
Porch Pumpkins sources its pumpkins and hay from the state of Texas and packs up to 20 large 18-wheeler trucks with deliveries to serve the Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Houston regions.
"I love taking care of people and bringing people joy," Torres said. "To be able to grow each year, to say yes to more people and bring more porches joy, it literally makes my heart explode. I'm so happy."
At the end of the autumn season, Porch Pumpkins team members also pick up unwanted pumpkins and donate them to local farms, where livestock like pigs are welcome to chow down on them.
Torres said Porch Pumpkins has inspired other entrepreneurs to follow suit, but for anyone looking to pump up their own porches this fall, Torres said to keep a few considerations in mind.
"First of all, you want to have lots of color, texture and variety," said Torres. "We start with our orange jack-o'-lantern in two different sizes, both large and medium. And then we add in our white ghost pumpkins ... with a beautiful stem, and then our specialty pumpkins."
When it comes to mini pumpkins, those can also add a big punch as well.
"The little pumpkins are our sprinkles on top that just make everything picture perfect," Torres said. "We have our pie pumpkins, that are these orange ones with the stems, and then the gourds are all sprinkled throughout. ... We like to group them together just to really fill in all the holes."
To keep pests like squirrels at bay, Torres recommends spraying a simple solution of hot sauce and water on the pumpkins on display.
