Andrea, from the US, is an amateur gardener who spends her free time in her garden, where she grows speciality flowers and pumpkins – but something unexpected happened a few months ago
Alice Sjoberg Social News Reporter
13:21, 13 Oct 2025
Grab your popcorn and snacks to enjoy outdoors(Image: Getty Images)
A mum and her children were left astounded by the results of an unplanned garden harvest, after her four year old son accidentally spilled popcorn kernels in a flower bed.
Andrea, a mother of two from Parker, Colorado in the US, is a gardening enthusiast who spends her leisure time tending to her garden, where she cultivates speciality flowers and pumpkins. Despite her well-organised garden, something unexpected occurred a few months ago, leaving the family astonished by an unforeseen crop sprouting among her dahlias.
Andrea has amassed a following of over 13,000 people online, showcasing the various pumpkins and flowers flourishing in her garden, but soon her followers were equally amazed by the ‘happy accident’ that had transpired.
“My four year old spilled a bottle of [unpopped] popcorn, just like this, in my raised bed, and this is what happened,” Andrea disclosed in her video, displaying the towering maize plants behind her.
“It grew corn,” she declared, reports the Mirror.
The mother went on to mention that she and her children planned to pick some of the cobs that day to heat up in the microwave to see if they had indeed managed to grow their own popcorn. Her son and daughter are then seen selecting a cob each from the tall plant before carefully unwrapping them to reveal the vibrant-coloured corn inside.
However, this wasn’t sufficient to confirm their success, as they then proceeded to the kitchen for the next step.
“So we Googled it, and it said to put the popcorn in a paper bag,” she explained. “And then it said to fold the paper bag over two times, and to microwave it for a minute and a half.”
Her children, perched on the worktop, eagerly opened the microwave door as the popcorn bag was placed inside.
Once it was switched on, the youngsters pressed their faces against the glass door, anxiously watching as they waited for the microwave to heat the popcorn bag and hopefully create some popcorn.
Nevertheless, the cob of ‘popcorn’ refused to pop, with Andrea maintaining that the corn had cooked but hadn’t popped.
They therefore decided to return it to the microwave, and before long, the popping began.
“You guys!” Andrea cried out, whilst her son declared that it ‘smells like popcorn’.
“Moment of truth,” the mother said as she cautiously opened the paper bag to discover that some of the corn had indeed popped into popcorn – though they bore little resemblance to what we’d typically expect popcorn to look like.
Rather than the usual appearance, the popped corn remained yellow like sweetcorn, yet there was no question they had successfully popped.
Andrea went on to suggest that she reckoned the corn had been overly moist initially, which explained why it hadn’t puffed up white and fluffy like ‘conventional’ popcorn. She continued to inform her audience that she had conducted further research, and it was recommended to let the corn dry before popping it.
Despite not succeeding when they attempted again after five hours, as one individual had suggested, she stated she would be leaving the corn to dry for several weeks, but also requested additional advice from her viewers.
Nonetheless, the majority of people expressed their astonishment in the comments section at what they had witnessed, with one individual remarking: “Well, I was today years old when I learned popcorn is not just regular corn.
“What a great lesson for the kiddos. How fun,” another person commented, while a third user posted: “The perfect happy little accident! !”.
In terms of advice, another viewer contributed: “Hello- person from Nebraska here- you need to wait until your corn stalk and leaves are completely dry and brown before you harvest your ears. It should be treated like field/ grain corn not sweet corn.”
