Go goth in the garden
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/homegarden/4258245.html Let your landscape take a walk on the dark side with bizarre blooms and scary foliage By KATHY HUBER Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle My garden is spooky enough for Halloween. The heat has taken a devilish toll on many long-flowering bloomers. And the recent dry spell has laid the red oaks' branches mostly bare, so they carve a gnarly silhouette against the moonlit sky. But I decided the dreary landscape will make the perfect backdrop for the pagan celebration that is rooted in nature. Why not add a few dark characters and let the garden go a little goth, if only temporarily. I found no black dahlias but several other Halloween-appropriate plants to fill cauldrons on the front steps. Carnivorous plants are especially suitable for this ghoulish theme. The odd predators capture insects, but fortunately only our imaginations. Long a staple in the fashion world, black caught the fascination of gardeners when dark-foliage plants emerged about a decade ago. We ushered them into the garden as accents or foils for bright blooms. With so many varieties now available, it's easy to concoct a dark-leaf brew in kettles alongside the bug eaters on the front porch. The ingredients in my pots: silvery-veined, heart-shaped 'Black Velvet' elephant ears; wispy bronze fennel; reddish-gray ornamental kale and cabbage; 'Ace of Spades' sweet potato vine; purplish cordyline and the dark-chocolate Pseuderanthemum kewense. 'Red Velvet' cockscomb, a bizarre bloom that resembles a brain, is a good choice for a scare. As are the swarms of tiny red and purple bat-face cuphea blooms that will greet trick-or-treaters. But the small fuzzy orange and yellow tubes of the candy corn vine (Manettia lutecrubra) may tip them that they're in for sweets.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/homegarden/4258245.html Let your landscape take a walk on the dark side with bizarre blooms and scary foliage By KATHY HUBER Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle My garden is spooky enough for Halloween. The heat has taken a devilish toll on many long-flowering bloomers. And the recent dry spell has laid the red oaks' branches mostly bare, so they carve a gnarly silhouette against the moonlit sky. But I decided the dreary landscape will make the perfect backdrop for the pagan celebration that is rooted in nature. Why not add a few dark characters and let the garden go a little goth, if only temporarily. I found no black dahlias but several other Halloween-appropriate plants to fill cauldrons on the front steps. Carnivorous plants are especially suitable for this ghoulish theme. The odd predators capture insects, but fortunately only our imaginations. Long a staple in the fashion world, black caught the fascination of gardeners when dark-foliage plants emerged about a decade ago. We ushered them into the garden as accents or foils for bright blooms. With so many varieties now available, it's easy to concoct a dark-leaf brew in kettles alongside the bug eaters on the front porch. The ingredients in my pots: silvery-veined, heart-shaped 'Black Velvet' elephant ears; wispy bronze fennel; reddish-gray ornamental kale and cabbage; 'Ace of Spades' sweet potato vine; purplish cordyline and the dark-chocolate Pseuderanthemum kewense. 'Red Velvet' cockscomb, a bizarre bloom that resembles a brain, is a good choice for a scare. As are the swarms of tiny red and purple bat-face cuphea blooms that will greet trick-or-treaters. But the small fuzzy orange and yellow tubes of the candy corn vine (Manettia lutecrubra) may tip them that they're in for sweets.