{"id":2703,"date":"2010-07-13T07:35:58","date_gmt":"2010-07-13T11:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/?p=2703"},"modified":"2010-07-08T12:38:15","modified_gmt":"2010-07-08T16:38:15","slug":"gothy-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/?p=2703","title":{"rendered":"Gothy Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HerbyI haven’t done a gardening post in ages, largely because most of my gardening this year has tended toward the mundane rather than the spooky: I’ve been planting things to make the bees<\/a> happy, and their preferences aren’t particularly gothy. However, I’ve been saving a list of plants that would be perfect for a spooky garden, so even if I haven’t had the chance to plant any at least I can share them with you.<\/p>\n

Obviously, check any plant for suitability (size, temperature requirements, invasiveness, etc.) before you stick it in the ground; depending upon your location, some of them may have to be grown in pots. You can use one or two as accent plants in a garden or mass a lot of them in a single bed to create something more blatantly spooky. That latter is my preferred approach; I like to give visitors the impression that my front yard might eat them.<\/p>\n

One of my favorites is Spilanthes oleracea<\/a>, also called the “Peek-a-Boo Plant.” It’s got round yellow blossoms with burgundy centers and essentially appears to be a bunch of eyeballs on stalks.<\/p>\n

Ricinus communis<\/a>, the castor bean plant, is a big, showy ornamental. Depending upon the variety, foliage can be purple, dark green, or reddish, and the seedpods are colorful and spiky. The plant is also highly poisonous<\/b>, so do NOT plant it if you have children or animals who might nibble at it.<\/p>\n

The Butterfly Bush species Buddleia davidii ‘Black Knight’<\/a> is a tall, attractive plant with blackish-purple blooms. It has the added benefit of attracting hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden.<\/p>\n

The Bat Flower, Tacca chantrieri ‘Black’<\/a>, has black blossoms that look sort of like a bat. If you squint. It’s a really striking houseplant, though, with huge glossy flowers and dramatic whiskers.<\/p>\n

There’s a variety of broomcorn (Sorghum nigrum<\/a>) that has shiny black seeds is often sold under the name “Black Witch’s Broom.”<\/p>\n

The daylily Hemerocallis ‘Bela Lugosi’<\/a> is a gorgeous purple-black flower with the added benefit of a wonderful name.<\/p>\n

Speaking of that, there are actually a lot of daylilies with evocative names, like Forbidden Desires<\/a>, Goblin MoonMerry Witch<\/a>, Wicked Witch<\/a>, Creature of the Night<\/a>, Moonlit Masquerade<\/a>, and lots more.<\/p>\n

(I could actually go on for pages about interestingly-named flower cultivars, like roses called Banshee<\/a>, Deep Secret<\/a>, Autumn Sunset<\/a>, and Night Song<\/a>; irises named Dracula’s Shadow<\/a>, Ominous Stranger<\/a>, and Ghost Train<\/a>; and tulips called Queen of the Night<\/a> and Tattoo<\/a>. Let’s just say that if there’s a popular flower you happen to like, it’s probably got at least a few varities with spooky names.)<\/p>\n

A variety of sea holly, Eryngium giganteum ‘Miss Willmott’s Ghost’<\/a> is a tall, greenish-grey plant that has prickly flowers. It’s a striking landscaping plant and would also look nice as part of a dried-flower arrangement.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite shrubs is the Corkscrew Willow, Salix matsudana tortuosa<\/a>: Its twigs are twisty and contorted, which not only give the whole bush a peculiar look but also make wonderful additions to a vase of cut flowers. The Corokia cotoneaster<\/a> is another great shrub; it’s also called a “wire netting bush,” and its grey foliage and mounding habit make it look odd and ghostly.<\/p>\n

Japanese Blood Grass<\/a> is an extremely arresting ornamental grass, with tall garnet-to-burgundy blades. Eleusine coracana ‘Green Cat’<\/a> is another ornamental grass that produces strange claw-like flowers.<\/p>\n

Carpet Bugle (or Bugleweed), Ajuga reptans<\/i>, is a nice ground cover which has several dark varieties<\/a> like ‘Burgundy Glow’ and ‘Royalty’.<\/p>\n

Other, non-specific suggestions for a gothic garden is to look for twisty trees, vines and other trailing plants, black or other deep-colored flowers, and perhaps some night-blooming plants. The Victorian-type garden with a wide variety of plants stuffed into every available place is a great look for this kind of garden. Gazing balls, menacing statuary (I’m partial to pleurants<\/a>), sundials, and wrought iron are all attractive additions. Even better, use a big cauldron as the focal point of a flower bed and plant it to overflowing with trailing plants.<\/p>\n

What’s your favorite gothy plant? I’d love to hear more suggestions in the comments!<\/p>\n

(Image from Skull-a-Day<\/a>. Isn’t it fabulous?)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I haven’t done a gardening post in ages, largely because most of my gardening this year has tended toward the mundane rather than the spooky: I’ve been planting things to make the bees happy, and their preferences aren’t particularly gothy. However, I’ve been saving a list of plants that would be perfect for a spooky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unhallowed-ground"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2703"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7390,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2703\/revisions\/7390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shadowmanor.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}