Halloween is around the corner- which means pumpkin picking, costumes and gardening? Halloween is meant for fun and dressing up in costumes. Everyone’s houses are skillfully decorated as well, so why not decorate your garden? This is a follow-up list to our last post about black plants for October. You can read that here.
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Once the month of October arrives, it is time to get festive. Cozy Sweaters, Hot Drinks, and Halloween! Carved Pumpkins sitting on the porch, and ghosts hanging in the window. Your yard would be incomplete without a little decoration in the garden also. Here is a list of black plants to give your garden a pop- or lack of a pop of color.
Black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’) – This grass does well when planted in full sun or part shade. It grows roughly a foot tall and wide, and is great for ground coverage.
Coral bells (Heuchera ‘Obsidian’) – This plant can tolerate full sun and part shade. For the best results plant in a sunny area with some afternoon shade. It grows about 1 to 2 feet tall and 1 foot wide.
Orange and black pansies (Viola x wittrockiana)
– This plant does well in full sun to partial shade. It will bloom in the fall and then once again in the spring. It grows to about 6 to 8 inches with about the same size spread.
Black snakeroot (Cimicifuga ramosa ‘James Compton’) -This plant grows best in full sun for the deepest color. It grows to about 3 feet tall with a spread of 2 feet. It’s flowers will bloom in autumn.
Black rose (Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’) – This plant thrives in full sun to partial shade. It can grow up to 10 inches tall and wide in the shape of a rosette.
It is October, time for the cold weather, last minute garden cleanup, and celebrating Halloween.
1.Time to do final lawn repairs and seeding before it’s officially too late. For next June’s harvest, plant unpeeled organic garlic cloves pointy end up in the garden. For holiday blooms start those paperwhites now! Place the bulbs pointy end up in a shallow container of gravel. Add water to reach bulb bottoms.
2. Time to plant rhubarb (it is perennial). Also prepare a bed for peas and spinach so you can sow seeds in the early spring. When the vines die back, you can even harvest winter squash!
3. Cover your ponds with netting, to keep out pesky falling leaves. Also clear out vegetable beds, till soil and incorporate compost, manure and lime into the soil as well. Apply potassium around the base of roses to increase resistance against winter, but DO NOT apply nitrogen. Cut back long whips to protect from wind damage.
4. Now is the time to start smothering the grass, so you can prepare new beds. Get cardboard or thick layers of newspaper to cover the ground and mulch over to keep in place. Cut down bee balm, blanket flower, bearded iris, columbines and day lilies also.
5. Time to clean those terra cotta pots and store them inside (if left outdoors in the winter, they will surely crack). Do not panick if the inner needles on evergreens turn brown. It is normal for the older needles to do that before shedding. Also buy some candy at the grocery store, and hand it out to little superheros and princesses on Halloween!
Thank you Jessica Damiano for the original information. You can read more here.