Why spend the money on a bunch of flimsy plastic Halloween decorations when you could just grow your own?
Nature is full of plants with creepy colors, twisting vines, and spiky stems.
Some devour whole insects or are viciously aggressive towards other plants, others are associated with bizarre history and scary stories.
Take your decor up a notch this Halloween and try decorating your home and yard with a collection of spooky plants!
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Check out our list of 13 eerie plants sure to give you the heebie-jeebies this October!
Here’s the lineup:
13 Creepy, Spooky Plants for Halloween and Beyond
1. Bat Flower
Easy to grow indoors as a houseplant, the bat flower (Tacca chantrieri) is an unusual deep purple tropical bloom, with ruffled winglike petals and long hanging whiskers.
It kind of resembles a bat in flight. This species is also known as devil flower and cat’s whiskers.
Native to tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia, this species will grow wild in shady areas with high humidity.
Plus the incredible flowers can grow up to a foot wide, with whiskers up to 28 inches long!
Packets of seeds are available for purchase from Seedville via Amazon.
2. Black Elephant Ears
Colocasia esculenta is a striking tropical perennial with massive black and purple heart-shaped leaves that can grow to be a foot wide and reach three feet in length.
If you are looking for a striking display of darkness this Halloween, the cultivar ‘Black Magic’ is the way to go.
Hardy to Zones 8 and up, elephant ears can easily be grown indoors in colder zones as well – as long as you can find a spot with high humidity and indirect sunlight.
Just keep this in mind: it can be massive!
Bulbs are available at Eden Brothers in packets of one or three.
3. Cobra Plant
Also known as the California pitcher, the cobra plant (Darlingtonia californica) is a carnivorous species that can grow up to three feet in height.
It has tubelike leaves that expand at the end like a hood, and the forked protuberances make it look like a cobra with fangs out, ready to strike!
Try to grow this one if you dare. Recommended for experienced growers of carnivorous plants, it is finicky, requiring fairly specific growing conditions.
You can learn more about growing pitcher plants here.
4. Cockscomb
Cockscomb (Celosia cristata) is an easy-to-grow annual with showy, fuzzy, blood-red flowers that bear a striking resemblance to brains.
You can also find cultivars available in pink, orange, yellow, green, and white.
While they flower outdoors in late summer and early fall, they are also easy to grow indoors for your Halloween display!
You can find seeds for ‘Red Velvet Cake,’ a cultivar with intense dark-red flowers, from Burpee.
For detailed information about cockscomb, check out our celosia growing guide.
5. Corpse Flower
As its name suggests, the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) smells like death when it is in bloom. Some have described the scent as something akin to rotting meat or trash.
The disgusting scent is meant to imitate that of a dead animal, to attract pollinators such as dung beetles and flesh flies that normally feed on rotting flesh.
You will need to be patient if you want to experience the full display of a corpse flower as it can take seven to 10 years for a bloom to appear!
6. Devil’s Walking Stick
In addition to its spooky name, this large deciduous shrub (Aralia spinosa) is armed with sharp spiky stems, leaf stalks, and branches, and topped with a crown of giant compound leaves.
It produces clusters of dark purple or black berries in the fall.
While it may look otherworldly, devil’s walking stick is native to much of eastern North America, growing naturally in disturbed areas along the edges of forests.
This species makes an effective defensive plant as well, keeping out unwanted visitors.
Devil’s walking stick is easy to transplant or propagate by division or from seed.
7. Ghost Plant
Also known as Indian pipe or corpse plant, this scary succulent (Monotropa uniflora) contains no chlorophyll, causing it to appear totally white in color.
Because it doesn’t need light to grow, it can survive in even the darkest of places. What’s more, it is parasitic, stealing nutrients from neighboring species through its roots.
Since it is unable to photosynthesize, the ghost plant is dependent on specific fungi, trees, and decaying plant matter in the soil to live.
It can be found growing in the wild in damp, cool soils, often near beech trees.
