You bet your sweet bippie they like to climb. Or, crawl waaaay out. They'll root as they crawl in addition to the main stem. I'm assuming that decoration gourd isn't over, oh, three years old, right? If it's been exposed to heat over time, the seeds won't be any good. Gourds can be tricky, but if you get lucky, they're a blast to have. Watch for powdery mildew, but usually they're not too bothered by too many pests or critters. Maybe cuz they're a little stinky. Surefire way to cure them is to just leave them OUTside all winter to freeze and thaw and shed some fugly black papery skin to reveal the "real" gourd, underneath. Some people 'nick' the seed to encourage germination, but I'm not sure how to do that! :) Good luck!

Well I got 2 of the seeds to germinate so far, they look great. :) But correct, I got these seeds this past thanksgiving

They will climb all over the place!!!! Have fun with them....I had vines climbing all over my garden last season, they took over many of my japanese maples which did not seem to mind, they covered my umbrella on the porch and even crept their way onto and completely imersed themselves in my tomatoe garden.

Oh yes, they'll climb things you never expected them to climb. A while back I saw someone that had pictures of a Pumpkin Tree. It was a tree, that had pumpkins growing off it's branches.

Turns out they had chucked an old jack-o-lantern to the curb by a tree one year, and apparently a seed landed just right and managed to sprout. It climbed the tree like ivy, climbed out across the limbs, and proceeded to grow regular sized pumpkins the following year.

I've been trying to grow gourds for a couple of years. I decided to start them in my green house this year. They came up nice, but are starting to yellow...

Anyone know what that means?

Mary

Had gourds climbing my apple trees. Needed a ladder to get them down. Homegrown , you said to leave them out to freeze. Sounds like a good idea but how do I know if they are really mature, otherwise they freeze and rot. To nick the seed I just take a knife and cut a tiny nick in the pointed end of the seed. Gourds are so interesting!

Well, posieh that's a good question. The more immature ones rot as you said... and it's darn hard to tell maturity for some of them until they do! I have no use for immature gourds of course, cuz they'll rot anyway - inside or out. I just leave 'em all, wait 'till spring and see who made it and who didn't. Of course it goes w/o saying, that the earlier you can get the vines going, the more mature 'fruit' you'll have.
Thanks for the nick info. I couldn't remember which END to 'help' along!
best, M