Halloween Flowers

I was in Chicago last week, visiting my sister on the North Side of the city.  Many

of her neighbors take pride in their homes and yards and decorate extensively for

Halloween with flowers and figures in the yard.

My favorite new flower this year was the "Pumpkin Spice" dahlia, which was more

than eight inches in diameter.

Pots of mums are available in many stores, very inexpensively.  They will

bloom profusely until several nights of killing frost.

But they are very hardy.

New colors in mums are developed each year; they become more intense and

the variety is greater.  This is a new yellow-orange mum.

The leaves of the firebush are an intense red at this time of the year.

A group of welcoming pumpkins on a nearby yard.

Pots which were filled with geraniums and petunias for the summer

now showed off chrysanthemums.

One block from my sister's house is a yard filled with spectacular dahlias.  They have

different varieties each year, and they are always big.  These bushes were all over six

feet in height and crowed with 4 - 6 large flowers 7-8 inches wide.  Here is

"Pumpkin Spice" with four flowers at the top and more down lower.

"Pumpkin Spice" flowers were so large they easily bent their stems under the weight.

"Witch's Broom" was another very large flower with many petals of various colors.

"Hobgoblin White" dahlia

"Scarecrow Pink" was nearly 10 inches across, like a big sunflower.

"Ruby Blood Quill Chrysanthemum"

"Scarecrow's Smile"  yellow mum

"Bahama Mama" dahlia is a very well known and popular variety, like the

many petticoats of a lady at a market in the Bahamas.

"Witch's Hex Dahlia" was a bold and dramatic flower in deep purple and white.

"Boiling Blood Mum" was an intense red with prolific flowers. 

"Cat's Eye Mums" of yellow-orange petals and brown centers.

Deep Cranberry Mums"

Lavender Clematis Vine

"Late Summer Climbing Roses."  Although most roses bloom in June, others bloom

much later, including this hardy climber on a trellis.

"Butterscotch Swirl Chrysanthemums"

"Blue Milka Asters."  They are the same family as mums and daisies.

"Multi-Colored Chenille Worms."  The usual variety is deep red and hangs down

from branches; these grew sideways on a bush and crept across the sidewalk.

"Gazania / African Daisies"

"Raspberry Chrysanthemums"

"Indian Summer Chrysanthemums"

From our house to your house -

HAPPY  HALLOWEEN

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