The last week of October crept up in the garden and produced a bounty of orange zinnias. It’s hard to find a spookier send off to summer in the garden than Halloween themed flowers. It always surprises me the weird colors I can find in tropical foliage.
Orange flowers and black foliage with orange spots? Check. Welcome to late fall in South Florida. I added the Star Wars figures for a Halloween touch and I always like the idea of “May the Force be with You.”
What’s in the vase? Orange Zinnias are Benary’s Giant. Black leaves are from Piecrust Croton (Codieum varigatum). All the leaves on the Croton are not black, they range from green to yellow, red, orange and apricot. It’s a mad shrub. There are a few cuttings of Blanchetiana Bromeliad flowers, the yellow Lobsterclaws. The grass and flowers are from Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris)
Happy Halloween from my garden. To see more vases from this weekly garden meme visit Cathy at RamblingintheGarden.
The Shrub Queen 
Orange Zinnias! Gotta love them, and the props are perfect for this week. 🙂
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Thanks, Beth.
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Happy Halloween. Your plants had perfect timing with their colors. PS My daughter missed all the storms and had a nice trip.
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Thank you. I am glad your daughter got home when she did!
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A perfect holiday arrangement, beautiful! Love those zinnias… Happy Halloween!
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Boo!
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“Mad shrub”; yes, that describes it.
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You’ve done things up right for Halloween! I love the dark leaves of that Croton. I’m in utter denial about the holidays this year, starting with Halloween, but we’ll pick up some candy to give out on Friday anyway.
https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/
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Thanks, Kris. I am slowly eating the Halloween candy. We rarely see more than 5 trick or treaters so I foolishly buy something we will eat!??
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The zinnias are positively singing Amelia and are a perfect contrast for the dark foliage. Wishing you a spooky Halloween 🎃
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Thank you, Anna. Boo!
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The joy of my roses put any thoughts of Halloween out of my head, but I am pleased to see how you have managed to instantly conjure up the occasion with your vase. I thought your zinnia were tithonia at first, as I struggle to believe how some people can get such a huge crop of them – how many plants are these from (and please don’t say just one!!) How clever to use the ‘black’ croton leaves. You refer to croton as a bush and I am wondering how big it gets because, as I know I have mentioned before, here it is available as a houseplant, so I have never seen one other than pot plant size. The muhly grass makes a brilliant suggestion of a misty and spooky night
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Thanks, Cathy. I had to count the zinnias, there are 5 in what is called a 3 gallon container here. The Croton is huge and needs pruning – maybe 8 feet by six feet. There are varieties that grow 10 feet tall. I have a couple of dwarf types so I don’t have to prune them.
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Crikey, I would never have imagined crotons could grow to that sort of size – but then I think of other UK houseplants like ficus that can still reach a fair size in a pot here if conditions are OK
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The Ficus here would blow your mind. I still stop short when I see a big F. benjamina.
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My sister had a F benjamina that reached the ceiling here in the UK, but do surprise me with what height they get to in Florida….?
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There is one up the street that is easily 30 by thirty feet with a buttressed trunk . It coats the road with tiny figs in summer
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Crikey, I never even thought that they might be able to produce figs – I suppose that is why they are known as ‘weeping fig’
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Tiny figs! They form a slurry and get stuck to my shoes. I think that tree is actually bigger than that and I see F. nitida around as well.
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Yuck!! I think F nitida is also available as a houseplant here, but not as commonly
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Oh, a great theme vase Amelia, although I missed the connection with Star Wars. 🤭 Your zinnias are still wonderful. How long will they go on, I wonder? I think the yellow lobster claws are scary.
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I have another batch of zinnias to cut now. I have about 5 in a pot and one just passed on. The plants look awful.
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I’ve never been a fan of Halloween and am rather irritated whenever I come across plastic spiders sitting in plastic nets accompanied by some weird white plastic ghost-like ornaments. I wonder if people here realise at all what they’re celebrating? Your Zinnias look gorgeous though, lovely foliage too.
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I agree about Halloween. My neighbor has a 15 foot skeleton!
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