13 Halloween Flower Arrangements That Are Eerily Beautiful

lotus pods flower arrangements — Credit:
Gentl + Hyers

Flowers set the mood for any occasion, and Halloween is no exception. In fact, there's such a thing as Halloween flowers! As our editors and favorite florists have demonstrated to memorable effect, you can always use flowers to create an autumnal atmosphere in your home. The fall harvest season provides a bounty of inspiration, like heirloom pumpkins, gourds, flowers, and edible crops, to use in your Halloween flower arrangements.

Katherine Anderson, floral designer and co-owner of The London Plane

Clover Chadwick, owner and lead designer of Dandelion Ranch

Focus on Dark, Moody Colors and Textures

Opt for colors that play into the mood of the season, but don't feel restricted to traditional black and orange tones in your Halloween arrangements. Opt for subtlety in the spook factor of your flowers. "Do off-tones," says Katherine Anderson, floral designer and co-owner of The London Plane. "Soft gray-greens instead of trying to go black."

It all depends on the overall look and atmosphere that you are trying to create. "Anything in season works," says Clover Chadwick, owner and lead designer of Dandelion Ranch. "Dried pods of flowers from the end of summer are also great because they are kind of creepy and interesting."

When creating Halloween flower arrangements, consider pairing dark-toned flowers like black calla lilies or black baccara roses with unique textures such as scabiosa pods or spider mums for a hauntingly beautiful effect.

Varieties known for their unique texture, like sorghum grain heads or scabiosa pods, are perfect for a wispy, haunted look. Carnivorous cobra lilies, black calla lilies, and quicksand roses are showstoppers in their own right.

Arranging Your Halloween Flowers

For Halloween tabletop arrangements and centerpieces, try pairing your flowers with sculptural vases and decorated pumpkins. You can also include other parts of plants to set the mood. Chadwick recommends adding a branchy element to your centerpiece. Plants that have unsettling features like spider mums and "Love Lies Bleeding" heirloom amaranth are also great for setting the atmosphere.

01 of 13

Black Dahlias

This dark and dramatic arrangement is made of black dahlias, purple hazel leaves, red ornamental grasses, and purple artichokes. Dahlias typically bloom in the fall, and this stunning black variety makes for an appropriately eerie arrangement.

02 of 13

Crimson Roses and Dahlias

Paired with a black vase, crimson-hued roses, and dahlias look perfectly frightening—especially if you decide to add some cobwebs like we did here for an extra spooky effect.

03 of 13

Carnivorous Cobra Lilies

Florals and Skulls in a Centerpiece — Addie Juell

Similar to Venus flytraps, the carnivorous cobra lily enjoys a live snack. Its serpentine shape and bright green coloring give the top of the bulbous trap a snake-like look—hence, its name—with a forked tongue that's ready to strike. Pair them with a bouquet of Black Beauty roses and allium out of a human skull (as we pictured here) for a Halloween arrangement that's certainly deadly both in metaphor and otherwise.

04 of 13

Black Calla Lilies

In lore, it is said that people give black calla lily blooms when they want to convey the idea of mystery and elegance—and this rarity does it well. Black calla lilies are recognizable by a singular trumpet-shaped bloom on a long, smooth stem. Despite their ominous connotations, they have a dramatic appearance that is strikingly modern.

Get the Haunted Mirror with Ghost Hands How-To

05 of 13

Lotus Pods

dragon pumpkins centerpiece on table — Patricia Heal

Trigger your trypophobia with a select number of lotus pods. At harvest, the bitter-tasting germ of most seeds is removed and the dried lotus seeds past their prime oxidize to a rich brown color. Our fear of weirdly clustered holes—as seen in dried lotus pods—is said to be an instinctive association with potentially poisonous or dangerous threats in the wild. So what could be more appropriate for Halloween? You can pair them with dark-toned roses or a centerpiece of pumpkins (as our editors did here for newly hatched "dragons") but remember: "Your arrangements should definitely focus on the pods," says Chadwick.

06 of 13

"Love-Lies-Bleeding" Amaranthus

With a common name like that, it's no wonder the Amaranthus caudatus plant is recommended by florists for Halloween arrangements. Their tassel-like panicles contain small red flowers that look like bloody tentacles about to grab a passerby. Pair these with black baccara roses and big branches, says Chadwick.

07 of 13

Black Baccara Roses

Unlike others in summertime hues, these roses are intentionally cultivated to appear autumnal in tone. "Black Baccara" roses unfurl velvety, dark-red petals and they can be added to almost any Halloween flower arrangement to hauntingly beautiful effect. Perched on a chair in the dramatic arrangement pictured here, a matte-black vase mixes several odd varieties: black poppies, smoke bush, dried Italian ferns, Scabiosa pods, and branches with decrepit-looking lichen. A single ostrich feather pays homage to a Hitchcockian thriller befitting Halloween: The Birds.

08 of 13

Sunflowers

On their own, you wouldn't think of sunflowers as spooky at all. "But they look great at the end of October," Chadwick says. Sunflowers add some autumnal yellow to your mixed bouquets, or burnt orange or burgundy red. Look for especially rich varieties like "Prado Red," "Moulin Rouge," and "Red Sun." They look especially robust as displayed here in this vintage Albany slip-glaze pitcher.

09 of 13

Sorghum Grain Heads

Not every flower screams for attention in autumn. In the days leading up to Halloween, this tall plant with tawny-gold seed heads transitions well into the fall harvest and Thanksgiving. These plants produce seed heads in a variety of colors. Pictured here: this mellow bronze, russet, and green grouping of oak and sweetgum branches cut from the yard is tucked into a vase with a few spider mums and sprays of sorghum from a floral shop.

10 of 13

Rose Hips

Find beauty in the unexpected at the season's end. Roses bloom in spring but turn to seed in the fall. And the rose hips, in result, change colors to become red and orange. Plants that are past their prime can be stunning. Their imperfections-the dramatic shapes, colors, and textures not found in just-bloomed plants are part of the appeal. To create this arrangement, we tapped our gardens for rose hips (plus, seed heads from coneflowers and asters). See what catches your eye in your yard.

11 of 13

Scabiosa Pods

Scabiosa pods are often considered a filler flower that is nonetheless perfect for a Halloween arrangement. The name itself is a clue as to why: With their ball-shaped heads, also known as pincushion flowers, they add one-of-a-kind texture to an arrangement. Pictured here: A block of floral foam is placed into a shallow pewter dish and created a dome of sedum flowers, filling in the spaces with purple Queen Anne's lace, mauve hydrangeas, round star scabiosa, fuzzy foxtail grass, and spiked sea holly.

12 of 13

Spider Mums

In late fall, nature's shapes become stark and geometric. Enter spider mums, a type of chrysanthemum, that have distinctive spindly petals that stretch out freely and loosely like spider legs atop the stems. These often overlooked flowers can be highlighted by placing a few stems of one or two types in their own eclectic vases. Pictured here: These ghostly white stems are placed amid black-leaf millet grass, snowberry, dusty miller with spider mums, bayberry, and ivy berries.

13 of 13

Quicksand Roses

floral centerpiece for a Halloween dinner party — Billye Donya

Quicksand roses are so named for having powdery, off-white petals with a hint of pink. These gentle hues are sought after by florists for their beauty. At Halloween time, they often look like ghosts among a bouquet of darker flowers like Black Baccara roses. Add them to your arrangements for a ghostly presence, as shown in this draped centerpiece that makes a showstopping impression.