Halloween, or Samhain if you’re genuinely witchy, isn’t just about pumpkins, costumes, and eerie decorations; it’s also the perfect time to embrace the dark, mysterious side of gardening! This guide will show you how to create a spooky sensation in our green spaces with some easy-to-find yet ghoulish garden beauties. Let’s ditch the overuse of single-use plastic Halloween trinkets and focus on the garden instead for more carbon consciousness this October.
So why not unlock your inner child and create spooky pots or garden flower beds this year with plants that last longer than one night? You may find trick-or-treaters asking more about your garden than what sweets or candy is on offer! Here are some Halloween-inspired plants and tips to make your garden a frightfully fun attraction all year round.
1. Black magic plants
For a garden that screams ‘Halloween,’ incorporate plants with dark foliage and flowers. Often overlooked in garden design, darker shades of foliage can help make other colours, such as red or yellow, really pop out in your garden borders.
Black or dark foliage plants add an air of mystery and drama to your flower beds by acting as a foil to allow other colours to look more vibrant. They are perfect for the spooky season.
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Black Mondo Grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’)
This grass isn't grass at all but is a lily at heart and features jet-black leaves, ideal for creating a striking contrast against lighter foliage or lining a garden path. Fantastic for pots or containers -
Epimedium ‘Spine Tingler’
With flowers resembling bats, this dry shade-loving specimen is an absolute showstopper for Halloween-themed gardens. Flowering in spring, it brings a blast of colour to the darker months. -
Black Velvet Petunia
With its velvety deep-purple to near-black blooms, this plant (pictured above) is perfect for adding gothic elegance to pots and garden beds. As an annual, it will only last the season, but it is excellent if you’re short on time and need a quick update on your container garden.
2. Ghostly white plants
Choose plants with silvery or white foliage and blooms to create a ghostly vibe in your garden. These have the opposite effect of the darker blooms by pulling themselves to the forefront of your vision, making them literally jump out at you like a wailing banshee!
These plants shine, especially at dusk, and add an ethereal glow to your space.
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Silver Dust (Senecio cineraria)
Its soft, silvery foliage makes this plant a must-have for a ghostly garden. Sometimes known as ‘Angel's wings, ' this plant has a beautiful texture to the leaves. Although it's hardy, it hates frost or sleet, so keep it relatively protected or grow it in containers to keep it out of the freezing wet of winter. -
Lamb's Ear (Stachys byzantine)
Soft and furry, Lamb's Ear (pictured above) has a silvery-green hue and adds a tactile dimension to the garden. In springtime, the fresh new leaves can be fried and eaten with a deliciously fresh taste. I grow this at Garden Ninja HQ in my raised beds and allow it to creep and spill everywhere. In spring, you’re met with soft pink flowers that honey bees absolutely adore! -
White Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba')
The delicate, heart-shaped white flowers make this a perfect addition to evoke a spooky but romantic mood. Plant this in light shade with wet roots, as it hates dry soil. Slugs tend to pounce on this poor specimen until it is well established, so add some spooky slug-repellant coffee grounds around the base to help it get on its way. Although it will be dormant in October, it comes to life in May with its white flowers, so it is more of a late Halloween bloomer!
3. Poisonous beauties
Some plants are associated with witchcraft and folklore because of their toxic properties. While you should handle these plants carefully, they can add a fascinating and historical element to your garden. Add these only if you’re a confident gardener and no small children like to put things in their mouths.
You may even be surprised how toxic some of the most popular plants are. But with all garden plants, it is about context; if you educate your children and train your pets so they don’t eat plants, you’ll be fine. It also encourages you to discuss your plants with little ones and teach them about looking without touching or respecting nature.
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Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)
These tall, elegant flowers are known for their beauty and for containing digitalis, a powerful heart medicine—making them both enchanting and dangerous in the wrong concentrations. These are biennials, so sow them now in autumn, ready for foliage next year and blooms in year two before they die back. Whilst you won't see these at Halloween, they can be sown now, ready for next year. -
Belladonna (Atropa belladonna)
Also known as Deadly Nightshade, this plant is steeped in witchcraft lore and produces dark berries and purple flowers. It is often found in scrubland for the expert gardener, as leaves and berries are poisonous if ingested. I suggest seeing this one in the wild when on walks near woodland and scrubland. Leave it where it is and admire its toxic beauty and shiny black berries! -
Wolfsbane (Aconitum)
Known for its toxicity, Wolfsbane has a long history in folklore for repelling werewolves and adds a haunting touch with its dark purple flowers. It is the fiercest of poisonous plants and should be saved for expert gardeners, but never if you have children. This is an incredibly toxic plant when touching or handling the roots, so please wear gloves. As for the rest of the plant, you can touch it without too much drama, but don't eat it! It’s a killer, and there is no cure for it once you have eaten it!
4. Pumpkins, squashes and gourds
No Halloween garden would be complete without pumpkins! From growing them in your garden to using them as Jack-o'-lanterns, pumpkins are the quintessential symbol of Halloween. Quickly grown from seed each year, pumpkins have an incredibly long shelf life once harvested. I have grown Squashes and pumpkins that have lasted 3-4 months indoors once harvested!
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Squashes
Add some unique shapes to your garden with various ornamental squashes. Their unusual shapes and colours make them perfect for autumn displays, and I like to draw eyes on their flash with pens to create spooky window displays! -
Pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo)
Whether growing the giant varieties for carving or smaller ones for decoration, pumpkins add a festive fall feel to your garden. Give pumpkins plenty of space and water when growing them. As they develop, sit the fruits on straw to ensure they don’t rot and have airflow.
5. Autumn flowers for seasonal colours
While Halloween plants tend to focus on the eerie and spooky, don’t forget to brighten your garden with some autumn blooms that add warmth and seasonal colour. You don’t need to go on the hunt for highly unusual, toxic or blood-chillingly strange flowers. Plenty of Autumn plants are available at garden centres to bring a touch of Hollywood Halloween to your garden. Let’s look at getting some spooky sparkle to your garden without any drama.
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Chrysanthemums
An autumn classic, mums come in a variety of warm hues, adding a splash of colour to offset your darker plants. These ‘mums’ are great for containers. In my travels around New England in the USA during Halloween, nearly all window displays and containers featured these plants with straw mulch, and they just reminded me of the spooky season. Treat them as annuals and pick contrasting colours of red and yellow for a true scary blast! -
Asters
These late-blooming flowers in shades of purple, pink, and white are perfect for filling in gaps in your autumn garden. They flower when everything else has finished and provide a much-needed extension to the gardening season. Don’t worry if you don’t see them emerge from the ground until July; as they are late bloomers, they tend to put their energy out only late in the season, too. -
Japanese Anemones
Their delicate, pale pink (shown above) or white flowers are perfect for softening the edges of a Halloween-themed garden. This semi-invasive species will happily colonise open ground and awkward areas. I’ve even grown them under conifers in dry soil to show how tough they are.
Halloween is so much more than plastic ghosts and fake spiderwebs over your door; it also involves your garden and the amazing plant specimens that are showing off ghoulish delights at this time of year. I would love to hear from you as to which plants and october shrubs are bringing life to your garden at this time of year.
Unti next time Ninjas. Happy Gardening!
About Lee
Lee Burkhill aka the Garden Ninja is a multi-award-winning garden designer, horticulturist, garden blogger, vlogger, TV Presenter and YouTuber. Hailing from the North West of England, Lee has an infectious enthusiasm for helping gardeners all over the world. The Garden Ninja is his garden design business and online gardening blog, and he was recently voted one of the Top 10 Gardening Bloggers and Garden Vloggers in the UK. Lee is also part of the BBC Garden Rescue Team, which you can watch on weekdays at 3.45 pm on BBC One or BBC iPlayer. Here at Lazy Susan, we’re looking forward to sharing his exclusive horticultural tips, tricks and advice on our blog.
