Words Hoard & Heath
Photography Sergey Platonov
A tall pale gourd with a cross-looking face stands beside a striped squash on a concrete step. In Sergey Platonov’s photograph, the pair has character enough to hold its own against the flowers behind it. For a small entrance, that is a promising amount of Halloween. The harder decision is where to put it.
Find the space beside the route
Open the front door fully before putting anything down. Stand where you use the key, reach for the handle and wait while someone comes through. A pumpkin that fits beside a closed door may occupy precisely the space you need when it opens. Leave the route, the landing and any handrail clear; the Home Office’s fire-safety guidance advises keeping exits clear.
A line of pumpkins on steps makes an appealing photograph, but the visible strip of bare concrete cannot tell us whether an entrance is easy to use. At home, check the whole approach with the things you normally carry, and allow for everyone who uses it. If a pot makes someone turn sideways or step round it, move the pot. A larger display belongs on an area beside the approach, where there is one.
Choose one side before filling both. Orange and pale pumpkins grouped near a wall keep the colour together. Start with a pair of different heights and look from the approach before adding more. If their shapes already read clearly against the door, a row of smaller pumpkins adds little and takes more ground.
Decide how much Halloween you want
A drawn face on one pale gourd changes the mood of the whole pair. The striped squash alongside it can remain plain. Favour this combination if you want one comic detail among the pots already by the door: put the taller shape behind or beside the lower one, with the face turned towards the approach.
The larger group of carved orange and white pumpkins is more emphatic. Its faces turn out towards the approach, with pale shells breaking up the orange. Keep that contrast if it appeals, but reduce the number to suit the space you actually have. A pumpkin hidden behind a larger neighbour takes up room without adding much to the view.
Artificial webbing is one detail to leave out. It is draped over pots and a railing in these scenes; the RSPB warns that birds and other wildlife can become entangled in the fibres. Keep the gourds and flower pots, and leave the outdoor webs to spiders.
Let the pots carry the autumn colour
Plain pumpkins can sit among the pots for a less theatrical display. The rounded forms hold their own beside many small flower heads, and an existing pot can provide the height. Take a colour from those flowers when choosing between orange and paler pumpkins; there is no need to introduce another colour simply because it is October.
Loose fabric softens the edges of the pots in the plain-pumpkin arrangement, but leave it off an entrance step. Keep the walking surface uncovered and set the pumpkins securely on a level surface. Check their position again if the display has been moved or disturbed by the weather.
A glass lantern stands behind the pumpkins with an unlit candle inside. For light after dark, choose a flameless alternative: London Fire Brigade suggests battery-operated lights for Halloween. Use lighting intended by its maker for the conditions outside, and keep leads out of the route. The photograph does not establish whether this lantern is suitable for outdoor use.
Look back from the gate or the end of the path before adding anything else. If the faces disappear behind the flowers, turn or move one of them. A small group seen clearly has more to offer than another pumpkin tucked behind a pot.
