BOO-tiful Plants for Halloween & Beyond!
Last updated: Oct 13 2021
Key takeaways
Photograph plants during the golden hours of early morning or late afternoon when soft natural light highlights color, texture, and detail without creating harsh shadows.
Clean up dead leaves, spent blooms, and distracting background elements before taking photos to keep the focus on the plant's natural beauty.
Try different angles and distances, including close-up shots of flowers and foliage as well as wider images that showcase the entire plant in the landscape.
Spooky season is upon us, which means all things pumpkins, ghosts, goblins and gremlins. And of course, plants, because if we’re being honest, there’s never a wrong time to feature flora!
We’ve compiled some totally terrifying, spooky and kooky varieties that were made for the Halloween season. From creepy colors to surprising textures, they’ll scare you in the best way possible. Take a look at our lineup below!
Jelena Witch Hazel: With gleaming yellow and red fall foliage, this show-stopping shrub will add vibrance to any area of the landscape. Plus, after its foliage drops, it’ll sport fragrant copper flowers almost resembling creepy, crawling spider legs! Great for using in borders, mixed plantings or as a focal point, Jelena Witch Hazel is versatile for a variety of spaces where color and texture are desired.
Blood Orange Tree: You didn’t think we’d exclude the Blood Orange Tree from this list, did you? With its abundant flavor that’s similar to raspberries and strawberries, this cold-hardy fruit tree offers unique, delicious, Vitamin-C packed blood oranges right from home. Skip the blood and gore this Halloween and opt for the Blood Orange Tree instead!
Flying Dragon Trifoliate Orange Tree: Another orange tree option that’ll offer a spooky sensation? The Flying Dragon Trifoliate Orange. One of the most unique fruit trees available, this variety flaunts totally twisted stems with claw-like thorns that resemble flying dragons - hence its fun name. Cold-hardy, able to grow in a range of locations, and producing flavorful oranges, it’s an unusually beautiful winner!
Arkansas Black Apple Tree: Another great and ghostly variety? The Arkansas Black Apple Tree is freakishly cool in that its apples are such a deep red-purple, they actually appear black! Crisp, juicy flavor combines with notes of sugar and cinnamon for a taste that’ll excite the palate. Plus, its bounty of apples is ready for harvest around October, so the fall season will be both sweet and scary!
Black Mondo Grass: This eerily exciting grass boasts unique blackish color for a frightening, ornamental appeal in the landscape. The Black Mondo Grass presents glossy, dark leaves and grows to only about 12 inches tall, making it perfect for edging sidewalks, driveways and walkways, and for sprawling among other plants. It’ll also bloom with bell-shaped, pink to white flowers in mid-summer that turn into shiny berries!
Celestial Night Rose Tree: Daring and dramatic, deep raspberry-purple blooms characterize Celestial Night Rose Tree for an other-worldly experience. With ruffled blooms and glossy, dark green foliage, it’s beautiful and spooky. Reaching about 4-5 feet in height, it’s perfect for hedges, borders and accent plantings.
Snake Plant: Anything with the word “snake” in it is bound to be scary, right? The Snake Plant is known as one of the easiest house plants to care for while also providing exotic, blade-like leaves. Enjoy its deep green, almost black, coloring mixed with yellow-gold for distinct variegation along with its low-maintenance and shade tolerance. Plant it up in your favorite container, and it’ll surely haunt your house!
And that’s a wrap on our spooky season inspiration! Are you scared silly yet? We hope you’ll make the most of this positively petrifying time of year with these spooky plants that will thrill and thrive in your landscape!
Written by
Sarah Logie
As Content Strategist at Trees.com, Sarah is smitten with words and a fanatic for flowers, particularly cut florals and house plants. With a love for curating compelling content, she also enjoys furthering her plant knowledge along the way! A few of her favorite flowers include hibiscus, hydrangeas, peonies and dahlias.
Sarah’s fondness for plants was cultivated through many childhood trips to Longwood Gardens in southeastern Pennsylvania, as well as through her first job out of college at a floral event design company. In her free time, catch her snapping photos of anything and everything, day-dreaming about interior decor, and enjoying the outdoors any chance she gets.
