Louisiana How to Make A Natural Pumpkin Topiary : Halloween 2012 Ideas from HGTV

To make this fall porch decoration, we stacked three pumpkins in a planter then adorned the pumpkins in vines, greenery, baby's breath and a few feathers.

Tools and Materials

serrated knife
scissors
hot-glue gun
3 pumpkins (we used faux pumpkins by Funkin)
painter's tarp
greenery (U-shaped) pins
grapevine (twigs)
1 to 2 long bows of artificial greenery (boxwood looking)
2 packages of dried flowers (baby's breath)
5 bunches of feathers
2 to 3 bunches of artificial flowers or grass-like (pom-pom) stems
1 large urn planter

Paint and Prep

In order to be able to stack the pumpkins, break off the stem of the bottom two pumpkins. or cut holes in the bottom of the top two pumpkins. Paint the pumpkins if desired.

Wrap in Vine

On a painter's tarp, layout all the pumpkins and greenery. Start with the bottom pumpkin, unwind the grapevine and cut a piece to go around the bottom of the pumpkin, let some come up from the bottom a little. Use u-shaped pins to hold it in place.

Wrap in Greenery

Cut a piece of the boxwood greenery and place it under the grapevine twigs, use pins to hold it in place.

Add Feathers

Place three of the five bunches of feathers around the grapevine. You may want to use the scissors and cut off most of the stem and then tuck in the rest in between the pumpkin and the grapevine. Use a hot-glue gun (medium heat) to keep in place.

Add Flowers

Cut pieces of the flowers and its greenery then tuck them into the grapevine around the base and glue into place.

Fill in With Baby's Breath

Use dried flowers to fill in the rest, make sure some pieces will hang over the edge of the urn.

Continue onto the Other Pumpkins

Repeat the steps on the upper two pumpkins, but don't use as much decoration as you did on the base pumpkin.

Use the Tarp to Stuff the Urn

We used our tarp not only as a work surface, but we put it in the bottom of the urn to bring the height of the pumpkins up close to the top of the urn. If a tarp doesn't work, try rocks, packing peanuts or old towels. Place the pumpkins in the urn on top of the tarp, allowing it to sink slightly into the middle of the tarp. Make sure none of the tarp shows or the inside edges of the urn.

Fill in Where Necessary

When everything is in place, fill in any blank spaces with more flowers, feathers or even birds.