Martha Stewart Is Transforming End-of-Season Garden Faded Blooms Into Chic, Spooky Halloween Displays

There is something rather beautiful about a garden at the end of the season. Flowers that were once bright and full are beginning to fade, petals have fallen away and seed heads have taken their place, but rather than looking finished, many plants take on an entirely different character.

Don’t believe it? Just ask lifestyle mogul Martha Stewart, who has made a point of turning the slightly weathered and faded beauty of late-season flowers into an atmospheric Halloween display.

Honestly, if you love the season of the witch, it’s a brilliant way to add your own unique twist to your Halloween decorations. Because, sure, pumpkins might be traditional, but there are more fall décor options to be found around your garden—and no, we’re not just talking about your spooky porch plants. A long way from the usual bright orange pumpkins, plastic spiders, and commercial decorations, Martha Stewart’s Halloween display relies instead on the elements a garden naturally yields at this time of year: think dried flowers, dark seed heads, wispy grasses, and stems that have been allowed to age gracefully in place.

Set against deep, muted colors and a few carefully chosen spooky details, the result feels far more like an autumn still life than traditional, mass-produced Halloween décor. Or, as design enthusiasts have noted, something that Morticia Addams would proudly display on her dining room table.

If you want to recreate Martha Stewart’s Halloween display for yourself, you may already have much of what you need growing right outside your door, though specialty items like skull planters and skeleton hand taper candle holders can easily be sourced to complete the aesthetic.

Plants that have completed their blooming cycle often transition into striking sculptural elements. Scabiosa, for example, develops delicate and intricate seed heads, while coneflowers—true to their name—leave behind sturdy, textured cones that remain remarkably attractive well into the fall. Alliums somehow become even more magnificent once their flowers have dried, taking on architectural qualities, while ornamental grasses take on an airy, ethereal quality that works particularly well in an autumn arrangement.

Even flowers that might look a little past their prime can find a valuable place in these moody centerpieces. Faded hydrangeas develop wonderfully muted, antiqued shades of green, mauve, and bronze, while spent dahlias and roses can add the darker, richer textures that make a Halloween display feel atmospheric rather than overly polished.

Martha Stewart has long embraced this kind of seasonal material in her approach to autumn and Halloween decorating, consistently recommending everything from dried seed pods to rich rose hips for her arrangements. The core idea is less about finding a mythical perfect black flower and more about bringing together unusual shapes, weathered surfaces, and varied textures.

This approach is particularly appealing because it doesn’t require gardeners to grow anything specifically for Halloween or purchase expensive, single-use holiday items. If you’ve been cultivating flowers throughout the spring and summer, you only need to take another look at them before you clear the garden for winter, choose a handful of the most interesting and unusual shapes, and bring them indoors.

For a more sophisticated, Halloween-inspired look, decorators are encouraged to work with deep reds, rich burgundies, dark browns, and muted greens rather than relying entirely on the traditional high-contrast palette of bright orange and stark black. A simple black taper candle can provide the final, dramatic touch without overwhelming the natural beauty of the plants themselves. And, of course, there is nothing stopping enthusiasts from adding a decorative skull or a pair of skeletal hands to the arrangement, much like Martha’s own display.

While some plants certainly benefit from being deadheaded to encourage a second flush of blooms, there are compelling horticultural reasons to leave other seed heads standing for a little longer into the autumn months. Beyond their decorative utility for seasonal arrangements, they can provide essential food and shelter for overwintering wildlife, add vital winter structure to tired garden borders, and, as this display brilliantly demonstrates, provide stunning, sustainable material for interior decorating.

So before you cut everything back and tidy away the final remains of summer, you might want to take a cue from Martha Stewart’s seasonal playbook. After all, those faded flowers may not be finished just yet; they might simply be waiting to give their best performance as particularly pretty members of the undead.