Winter may be approaching, but the chillier temperatures don’t mean you have to stop enjoying your yard. In fact, the end of the year offers some of the best opportunities to have fun with your landscaping and outdoor space. Take your Halloween spirit to the next level with some of these spooky yard decoration ideas!
Creeping Spiders and Swooping Bats In Your Gardens
Gardens are a great place to add in Halloween decorations. Most seasonal plants will be in their dormant state, giving off a spookier and dead-earth appearance. Those bare branches are the perfect scaffolding for whatever fun decorations you can think of, especially since they can hang down and move with the wind.
Adding fake spiders and webs across stronger plants such as bushes and trees will help elevate the creep factor and give individuals the chills. Additionally, spiders can be hidden in the crooks of rock gardens, along with thicker webs, giving off the appearance of tarantulas. Bats or ghosts can be hung on string or wire from tree branches.
Greet Guests With Skeletons, Ghosts, and Pumpkins
First impressions on Halloween are everything, especially with the increased traffic to and from your home and around the neighborhood in general from trick-or-treaters. If you are throwing a Halloween Party, you want your guests to feel the festivities in their bones the moment they lay eyes on your front yard.
Skeletons, floating ghosts, and jack-o-lanterns can lead the way from your driveway to your home; lining the path with some spooky friends also makes it clearer to your guests where they ought to go. Ghosts can be hung from strong tree branches, and you even use rope to string them up in between trees. If you use a thinner, invisible line, the darkness will hide the rope and give the appearance that the ghosts are free-floating. Skeletons can be placed near trees or set up as props on outdoor furniture to add a more humorous feel to your yard.
If you want to take advantage of the natural Halloween atmosphere that appears at nightfall, jack-o-lanterns can double as path lights and decor. You can lead guests safely around your yard or up stairs with their soft light while adding in that flair of Halloween spirit. Making the Jack-O-Lanterns is also a fun way to spend time with your family and friends
Implement Seasonal Plants That Boast Halloween Colors
Some plants thrive during the fall, but the lack of bare branches doesn’t have to get in the way of your spooky decorating. Hybrid plants with deep burgundy and purple leaves typically do really well during the fall season, and their deep colors can lend a chilling feel to your garden and landscape. Other plants may start changing colors this time of year, but the contrast with the other plants that have hues of gold, orange, or red can help make these darker colors stand out. Need some plant options to choose from? Here are some of our team’s favorites:
- Black Mondo Grass: Can be combined with pumpkins to make the black blades of grass pop
- Black Lace Elderberry: Has a feathery appearance that seems like wisps or spirits moving around your garden
- Royal Purple Smoke Bush: Large upright shrub that has a rich maroon-red color that darkens into a velvety purple into the fall. The name comes from the small flowers that turn into feathery plumes, making it look like billowing stacks of smoke
- Hillside Black Beauty Snakeroot: Striking black leaves that are highly divided. This gives an airy feel that makes your yard feel like something out of a horror story.
Place a Prop in Your Fountain
Hands, a spooky goblin head, or even a skeleton drinking the fall of the water can give a playful or fun twist to your outdoor water feature. Remember to choose a prop that will pop! You don’t want the prop to be so close to the color of the stone of the fountain that no one notices the seasonal addition.
Make Sure Your Landscape Is Ready to Host Your Halloween Bash
Halloween is fast approaching, and so is the decorating fun that comes with it. Make sure nothing will get in the way of your fanciful frights and spooky spangling by ensuring that your yard is ready for all your ideas. Don’t let imperfect landscaping keep you from realizing your perfect vision of a Halloween backyard. Our team at Landscape by Design can help you with all of your landscaping needs, including making sure you have the perfect canvas for all the seasonal decorating to come. Contact us today!