Fall is here and our pumpkins are ready to decorate our houses! This year we planted green and orange pumpkins and ended up with coral! What!? Not that I am complaining because I love the color coral, just look at our logo! They are the perfect shape for succulent pumpkin centerpieces too! The dip and full body makes me smile.

They are super easy to decorate with a couple of succulents, can grow for months, and at the end of fall you can cook them up into a pumpkin casserole dish.

Succulent Pumpkin

Choosing a Pumpkin

Choosing a pumpkin for your succulent pumpkin is actually harder than randomly pulling one from the garden. Choose one with as flat of a bottom as you can, a dipped-in top, and a long stem(you can trim it later). The color scheme is up to you! Or try painting your pumpkin with chalk paint to match your decor. I personally think the pumpkins that are a little wider than tall look the best sitting on your porch or dining tables.

Choosing Succulents

Are you wanting your succulent indoors or outdoors? Do you live in a state that gets snow?

For snow states, if you put this outside choose hardy succulents that can withstand the cold outdoors such as sedums and sempervivums(hen and chicks) that you can find at your local nursery. The cobweb sempervivums give a nice spooky Halloween effect.

Indoor/Sunny States: Choose whichever succulents are your fancy. If where you are putting your succulent doesn’t get much sunlight, consider using Hiawatha succulents as these don’t tend to stretch without sun.

Depending on your pumpkin size you will want more succulents than you think. This will allow you to fill out your arrangement and have backups if some break.

I like to either go with a variety of colors, shapes, and textures or do a lot of similar succulents. You choose what you think will go with your decor! For our dining room, I made up two small white succulent pumpkins using mostly green succulents including Hiawathas and burros tail.

The coral succulent is my favorite, and I chose Hiawatha’s, a variety of echeverias, and a burro’s tail. For the mini purple succulent pumpkin, I choose Echveria perle von nurnberg, Graptopetalum rusbyi, Graptopetalum opalina, Fred Ives, and an Echeveria lilicina. For the green mini succulent pumpkin, I choose a random succulent I had propagating, topsy turvy, and Echeveria subsessilis.

Putting it Together:

Extra Needed Supplies:

• Hot Glue Gun and Glue
• Tacky Craft Glue
• Sphagnum Moss
• Scissors, sharp knife or garden clippers

Start by cleaning your pumpkin of all dirt. Trim the stem if needed. Using the tacky glue, glue down a couple layers of sphagnum moss. You should make a nice mound in the dip of the succulent. Leave this to dry for at least 20 minutes. DO NOT WATER THE MOSS!

Clean your succulents up and prep for arranging while waiting for the glue to dry. Remove succulents from dirt, cut their stem cleanly(don’t worry, they won’t die, they will grow roots in the moss). Remove any dead leaves and maybe a couple more to form a nice close rosette of leaves.

Once you have a pile of ready succulents, plug in your hot glue gun and start looking at ways to arrange your succulents. For succulent pumpkins, it is best to start with the largest succulents in your pile and put them towards the middle/stem.

You want to be able to see all of the succulents and not have a small one hiding in the center. I try to pick 2-3 to lay around the stem.

Now, with the hot glue, put a glob around the stem of your succulents and lay them into the moss and hold there until the glue is dry(10-15 seconds). Continue with all succulents. You may need to add glue to the stem to hold up a heavier succulent in the moss. Try adding some under other leaves, mix up varieties throughout the pumpkin.

To maintain the succulent pumpkin, water about every two weeks, by getting the moss wet. Make sure you turn the pumpkin to make sure water isn’t sitting in the dip of your pumpkin. Do not water for at least 3 days to ensure the succulents don’t rot.