The vine was gorgeous during the summer, it climbed up our deck. When it came time to cut off the small gourds, we found that we had tall and short ones, smooth and bumpy. We painted the bumpy ones as witches and Frankensteins, and painted the smooth ones as mini pumpkins and ghosts. I kept the faces very simple and sweet. We put our uncut pumpkins on the porch as decoration for as long as possible, then cut them for jackolanterns a day or two before Halloween.
Mums are so easy to grow.
Buy some this year and enjoy them for years to come, both in the garden and in your house. I find them to be pretty long lived as a cut flower. They are easy to propagate too- just split them into small plants, each with a little bit of root on them. Plant them and keep damp for a week or two. Dried cornstalks make neat door decorations outside, along with a homemade scarecrow or a pumpkin.