University of Vermont Extension
Department of Plant and Soil Science
Fall News
Article
A GARDEN OF
GHOULISH DELIGHTS
Dr.
Leonard Perry, Extension Professor
University of Vermont
Halloween, with
its make-believe ghosts, goblins, and witches, comes but once a
year. But you
can keep the spirit of Halloween alive by choosing plants for theme
gardens
that conjure up thoughts of this spooky day.
Granted, it's too
late in the year to actually plant the garden, and most of the
plants wouldn't
survive fall frosts and still be around for Halloween. But that
shouldn't stop
you from planning for next year now while the spirit of the season
is at hand.
Chances are you
may already have plants in your garden with ghoulish connections.
While we all
know that the broomstick-riding witches associated with Halloween
don't really
exist, folklore tells us that once upon a time anyone who was a bit
different
risked being called a "witch" or being accused of having special
powers.
Sometimes a woman was declared a "witch," simply because of the
plants she grew in her garden, plants thought to be used for casting
spells.
Do you have
witches' thimbles, devil's nettle, fool's parsley, or wolf's bane in
your
garden? If you do, and this was several centuries ago, the talk
around town
might be that you are a "witch." Don't recognize any of those names?
You
may know them by other names.
Witches' thimbles
is another name for foxglove, a biennial with tall spikes of large,
bell-shaped
white, pink, purple, or red flowers. It's a source of digitalis, a
heart
medicine.
Devil's nettle or
yarrow was once used as a poultice for wounds. This plant comes in a
variety of
colors and grows to heights of two to four feet. While some species
are tall and yellow, many newer cultivars (cultivated varieties) are
short, don’t spread, and come in a range of colors.
Fool's parsley is
a hemlock herb, not to be confused with the tree although just as
deadly.
Wolf's bane, or aconite, has small yellow flowers. In the 1500s it
was mixed
with English yew, powdered glass, arsenic, and a number of other
deadly
ingredients to make pills. A word of caution.: if you plant any of
these
poisonous plants, be sure to keep curious kids and pets away.
According to folklore,
other plants that "witches" grew in their gardens include cumin and
verbena (both for love potions), opium poppies (sleep potions), and
morning
glories (wicked spells). "Witches" also mixed monkshood, which has
spiky purple blooms, with cinquefoil, belladonna, water parsnips,
and ashes to
make a strong potion that allowed them to talk to spirits "on the
other
side." An ointment of monkshood and belladonna supposedly made
objects
fly.
These folklore
witches also made sure they planted flowers from every birth sign,
so they
would have the ingredients needed to cast spells on everyone.
Chrysanthemums,
heather, and thorns were needed for power over a Scorpio. Someone
born under
the sign of Aquarius could be "hexed" with potions using foxglove
and
snowdrops.
For your witches'
theme garden, you also need to plant three or four rows of red
flowers--nasturtiums, geraniums, zinnias, vinca, and monarda, for
instance--around the edges of the garden to keep "witch hunters"
away.
To keep
"witches" out, border your garden with yellow and green flowers and
foliage. Plant marigolds, rudbeckia, sunflowers, green zinnias, and
Bells of
Ireland, for example. These colors remind "witches" of the sun
(which
they supposedly hate), so they will keep their distance.
Another way to
create a Halloween theme garden is to plant only orange and black
flowers.
While some gardeners may argue that there are few true black
flowers, many
near-black flowers are available, especially in the iris and tulip
families. There are also some pretty black pansies that will last
into fall and
maybe even to Halloween. Grow these with an orange variety called
"Jolly
Joker." You can find deep maroon (almost black) varieties of
bachelor's
buttons, snapdragons, cosmos, sunflowers, and gladioli. Check seed
catalogs and
ask the experts at your garden center for other varieties.
For orange, it's
easier. Many common flowers like zinnias, marigolds, daylilies, and
cosmos all
come in orange. You also might try butterfly weed, orange
nasturtiums, and
oriental poppies. Of course many fall chrysanthemums are found in
shades of
orange.
While not in
Halloween colors, “spiky” perennials with their sinister or ghostly
appearance
can be used for contrast or accent.
Popular in recent years is the artichoke or cardoon with its large
silvery, deeply cut and sharply pointed silvery-white leaves. Or
try other silvery spiky perennials such as
globe thistle or sea holly. Yucca, or
Spanish dagger, has several cultivars all with long leaves with
needle-like
tips.
Or instead, how
about plants with creepy names like bloodroot, bleeding heart,
Dragon's blood
sedum, or blood lily for your theme garden? Or scary names like
snapdragon and
devil's tongue (also known as the voodoo lily)?
Add a few stone
gargoyles or folk art, such as that found at craft shows, like
pumpkin clay
pots (for candles) or pumpkin and Halloween character silhouettes
carved out of
wood. Or how about some orange and ghostly green lighting for the
garden? With
a Halloween theme garden, you can enjoy this October holiday for
many months of
the year!
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