DIY Pumpkin Topiary
What Is Your Favorite Thing About Halloween?
Is it the candy? The costumes? The cobweb decor?!
I wish that every single one of you that are reading this could see how big I am smiling right now because I love EVERYTHING about Halloween. It’s quite frankly the most Spooktacular time of the year. It should be celebrated for all of its glittery, ghoulish, fabulous fun.
I’ll share all of my Halloween home decor
LINK HERE
Give ‘Em Pumpkin To Talk About
Erica Mintu
When I moved to Knoxville, I was amazed at how many excellent greenhouses and nurseries there were. Fun Fact: My first job where I was employed with a W-2 was when I was 14 years old and it was at a roadside garden nursey. I love finding unique plants, flowers, and all the perfect details for my landscaping dreams to come true. t was by a serendipitous route that allowed me to stumble upon Pope’s at Creekside, my favorite greenhouse thus far that I’ve found in the Knoxville, TN area.
Pope’s at Creekside is located along Northshore Drive, a road that I travel almost daily! I saw it for the first time the Spring that I moved to Knoxville and loved the vibrant colors. I could actually see that they had a vast selection, clearly see from the main road.
Address for Pope’s at Creekside:
8718 S Northshore Dr.
Knoxville, TN 37922
The diversity of their inventory is amazing and I can’t say enough times about how affordable all of their pricing is. They have ready-made bows, floral arrangements, centerpieces, showpieces, and accessory items like picks, signs, and pottery. Another thing that I really enjoy is how many wagons/carts that they have readily available for shoppers to have access to while browsing the rows and aisles of blooms and foliage.
One of the biggest blessings was having my mom come down to Tennessee to help me with buttoning up the details of wedding planning the last week of September. I could not have been more thankful for some extra hands and another brilliant mind to bounce some of my ideas off of. Plus, she is my favorite shopping partner!
My mother, Momma Glo, absolutely adores flowers and anything garden related. We always joke that Momma Glo could plant a tire and grow a car! Now, that may not be the case, but knowing that I needed help sprucing up the outside of my house left me less stressed knowing that was a huge way she could help me out.
Her smile was infectious as we walked up and down the rows of gourds, pumpkins, and mums! She was really glad that I took her to one of my favorite Fall shops and can’t wait to snag some pumpkins of her own next year when she visits me during that time of year.
Now lets get to the details, how to make a fresh pumpkin topiary!
We walked the whole shop and picked out a good variety of pumpkins to get started with in our cart. The key thing is to find the ones that you find most visually appealing for what you want to do. For example, some people prefer the “wart” look vs. the “striped” look. I like a good color contrast so I use various types of pumpkins and gourds to achieve my topiary concept.
A MAJOR tip I would recommend is to take the time to actually stack them up before you buy them and make sure that each “stack” sits properly. I do all of this and don’t secure my pumpkins in any form or fashion. I merely stack and set them into my taller planters that flank my garage door. Not every pumpkin is created equal-haha. So, the wobbly-ness is a real factor that you have to consider and how flush they all stack is important to note or else they could topple out with a huge gust of wind or as the mere weight of them pushes down onto the soil within the planters.
I had to snap a photo of all the stuff going on with my cart as I began picking the ones that I thought were the prettiest. Then I stacked…and stacked…and shopped around for other options…and put back on the tables all my discarded gourds.
Once you’ve selected all of the items that will work for your design concept, then you’re ready to make a simple, inexpensive, and gorgeous Fall decor item that everyone can’t help but notice. Plus, my favorite thing is that they are FRESH! Yes, I’m talking about real pumpkins for you, your family, guests, and trick-or-treaters to enjoy!
One of my Most Common Questions: How do you keep your pumpkins looking that good and actually last through Halloween and Thanksgiving?
I know it’s going to sound like a stretch but I can get mine to last two entire months without bugs, the weather, or the actual pumpkins deteriorating before you’re very eyes is a stretch. But, I’ve done it for two years and have a great, inexpensive trick for you all!
I’ve found that this simple life hack can help tremendously with decorating! Take some cooking spray, PAM for example, and using a cloth, rub your pumpkins/gourds/etc. with the oil. It’s quick, easy, and really does work. It forms a type of protective layer that helps the longevity of the pumpkins and repels bugs!
Now that you’ve picked out and prepped your pumpkins, you’re ready to get started decorating outside.
I start off with a fully weeded, empty planter. The only thing within it is the soil. Stack up your pumpkins as desired. Then, my 100% FREE way to spruce this up even more and make the topiary look “Finished” is to prune any existing greenery that you may have in your landscaping and simply tuck it under the bottom pumpkin!
Voila! That’s all you need to do to recreate my pumpkin topiaries! It cost me approximately $16-18 per topiary to create this look with FRESH pumpkins. It is simply the sweetest way to to make any empty planter, POP, once all the last season of blooms are gone.
I hope you all enjoy this recommendation, tips, and tricks to make this beautiful masterpiece last throughout two major holidays where you’ll be entertaining and having guests coming over.
What do you all think about my final look for my Fall 2019 Pumpkin Topiaries?! I cannot wait to show you guys the look from the videographer’s lens from my wedding as he incorporated these beauties, my beautiful arrangement on top of my mailbox, and all the spooky goodies in my landscaping that were Halloween items but Wedding inspired! Mhmm, wedding inspired.
Oh and before I forget, I was gifted