Tomorrow is Halloween but I couldn't get myself to do much in the way of decorating this year. Turning on the morning news is enough to send chills down my spine so I don't need to add anything else to set nerves on edge, be it mine or anyone else's. Our neighborhood doesn't attract many trick-or-treaters anyway. It's off the main road; houses are a distance apart; and some have long driveways or locked gates. Last year no one rang our bell. In the years before, we've never had more than five costumed visitors here. The candy I bought last year is still in the cabinet but as its "best by" date has come and gone, I'll give away single serving bags of popcorn if any kids show up.
I bought a few pumpkins and thought about decorating one with succulents as I did last year but I foolishly left the big one outside, where the squirrels took responsibility for carving it. I was unable to find inspiration in the dead foliage left by last week's heatwave either so I kept things simple and created a vase using warm, autumn-hued flowers and berries.
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| To give the vase a little something different, I added a large succulent rosette front and center, anchoring the heavy cutting above water level using a wire "stem" |
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| Rear view |
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| Top view |
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| I used just 4 elements: (top row) Grevillea 'Superb' and (bottom row, left to right) Correa 'Wyn's Wonder', Graptoveria 'Fred Ives', and Nandina domestica |
I made up a second arrangement for the front entryway using
Camellia sasanqua flowers. Even though these plants are cozied up against the house on the north side, they surprised me by producing flowers during a week that delivered temperatures of 100F with humidity below 10%.
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| All the Camellia blooms had ants, which I don't remember being an issue in prior years. I had the devil of a time getting rid of them before I put together my vase. |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: noID Camellia sasanqua, Abelia 'Edward Goucher', Lotus jacobaeus, Alternanthera 'Little Ruby', and weed-like Helichrysum petiolare 'Silver Mist' |
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| Even with the addition of dark elements in the form of the Lotus and Alternanthera stems, I can't claim the vase says "Halloween" |
The autumn-toned arrangement landed on the dining table with the still intact mini-pumpkins.
I didn't entirely give up on Halloween decorations, though.
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| A skeleton hovers above the dining table arrangement from our chandelier. My cat and rat skeletons sit outside the front door. They had no impact whatsoever in scaring off the squirrels who destroyed my large pumpkin within 3 days. I tossed what was left of it into the green bin for pick-up last week. |
I hope your Halloween is a pleasant one, whether you're observing the event or not. For more vases,
visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
