Fall Decorating: Fill a Pumpkin With Flowers

Taste of Home/RDA Milwaukee

This Halloween, dress up your front porch with festive fall containers. One of my favorites is the pumpkin bouquet planter. Nothing announces the arrival of fall more than a pumpkin filled with flowers.

When you start to pull out the seasonal decorations for your home and yard, add some plants to the mix. Consider planting flowers like chrysanthemums and pansies, or ornamental vegetables like kale and cabbage in a pumpkin planter.

Pair your pumpkin planter with with gourds grown in the garden, rustic corn stalks and straw bales fresh from the farmers market, or your favorite spooky Halloween décor. Bold warm colors like reds and yellows, or cool tones like purples and blues, will brighten up your yard throughout the fall.

Mark Derse / Country Woman

How to Fill a Pumpkin With Flowers

1. When visiting the pumpkin patch with your kids or grandkids, grab a medium- or large-size pumpkin. Choose a pumpkin with a sturdy base to create a stable container that will dress up the front stoop. You could also use an artificial pumpkin.
2. Cut a hole in the top wide enough to snuggly insert a plant pot — about 6 inches in diameter.
3. Scoop out the pumpkin seeds and pulp for a smooth surface, just as you would a jack-o-lantern. (You can feed the seeds to the birds!)
4. Take a 6-inch round pot of fall flowers (your choice on color preference) and place it inside the carved hole. If the pumpkin is large, use filler for the inside, such as empty plastic bottles, or plastic foam packing. The container lip should just clear the top of the pumpkin.
5. You can also make your carved pumpkin cheerier by tucking an autumn bouquet into a vase that fits snugly inside the shell. Arrange flowers to hide the rim of the vase.

Learn how to make a super cute, no-carve owl pumpkin.

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How to Make a Ghost Hanging Basket

If you have space for hanging baskets, you can also make a spooky ghost container to greet trick-or-treaters this year. Select a lush basket of white spreading and trailing pansies, petunias or other white flowers from the local gardening center. Add sunglasses or spooky eyes to the hanging container to create a ghoulish ghost, and hang on your front patio. The pansies will spill over the sides of the container, giving the impression of a ghost on the run when the breeze blows.

Next, if you have plastic pumpkin buckets, learn how to make a tipsy pumpkin planter.