What? A floral arrangement post? I know, this is very different for me, but I’m slightly becoming obsessed. But I will be the first to tell you that I am NOT a florist, and have A LOT to learn in the ways of floral arrangement creations. Also, you might be looking at that photo up there thinking “Tan? What the heck is so halloweeny about THAT?”. Oh my dear, I am a subtle kinda gal. Let me teach you what is behind this sneaky mind and show you how to create a halloween inspired floral arrangement without being in your face spider-this pumpkin-that.

Choose orange accents carefully

Orange can be a pretty garish colour if over done or too saturated. Sure, you could get bright orange gerber daisy’s together and call it a day, but that’s too easy. For this arrangement, I chose one accent flower in orange (pincushion flower) and then ruscus leaves with tiny orange berries. You could also use fruit like kumquats, oranges or physalis casings to get that little halloween pop of colour.

Don’t be afraid of dead/dying plants

Okay I might be guilty of trying to make this arrangement way more sophisticated than it actually is. I wanted to add some obviously dead/dried plants and some dying flowers for that decaying feel while being pretty. Dried lunaria is a gorgeous addition that gives it a bit of a different texture, and reminds me of a full moon, adding to that halloween mystique. Can you guess what flowers in this arrangement were already well passed their blooming age while on the plant? The hydrangeas. They dry up right on the plant and look quite cool actually, but just before that they turn these deep mauve hues that I thought suited the arrangement perfectly. Which leads me to my next point…

Pick moody colours

The deeper, darker, and richer your colours are, the more autumnal/halloweeny it’ll feel. Go for deep purples and burgundys, but don’t be afraid to add lighter tones if your tablescape calls for it. I added pink flowers to compliment the plates (tablescape coming soon!), but warning, it does take away from the halloween feeling.

Select eerie looking plants

I didn’t know why, but that dried lotus pod looked incredibly creepy to me. Turns out trypophobia – the fear of holes – is an actual thing. Researches hypothesize that we have a biological revulsion to clustered and irregular holes because those shapes are associated with danger or disease (leprosy anyone?). Well isn’t that just perfect for halloween then!
Other eerie looking plants include protea (though I think they are quite beautiful), eryngium thistle, dried out physalis casings, or dried snapdragon pods which, kid you not, look like skulls.

If you’re not the floral arranging kind, go ahead and pick one up from the grocery store (with as many of the above tips as possible!) and slap a couple bats on it. That’ll make it halloweeny for you!