Harvest Time Decorating

The wonders of the Internet and electronic communication have made everyone more aware of their neighbors around the globe. For example, when it's autumn in the Northern hemisphere, people in the Global South are enjoying springtime. And when it's fall in the South, Northerners are reveling in spring. However, no matter what months autumn comes, it's always a time to celebrate the harvest with rich colors and symbols of abundance.

The simplest and easiest decoration for harvest season is a bright orange pumpkin sitting on the front steps or porch. Pumpkins and other gourds make such excellent long-lasting decorations that it's possible to use them inside and out during harvest season. For variety, decorators can use pumpkins as the centerpiece around which to craft striking displays. They can be surrounded with pots of ornamental grasses in colors such as purple, bronze and red. The richness of the fall palette lets decorators choose from color combinations that make dramatic contrasts such as bright greens with browns and plums against a large orange pumpkin.

What's more, not all pumpkins are orange anymore. White pumpkins have been cultivated that give a totally different backdrop to a home decorating display. Combined with feathery purple or red fountain grass, white pumpkins make a truly unusual and visually stunning home decoration for fall.

In fact, white pumpkins and fountain grass can form the anchor of an entry display useful from the beginning of harvest time until its ending. For example, add in creepy props such as scarecrows, skeletons, ravens or other spooky denizens for Halloween. After that, change them out for vivid fall flowers such as chrysanthemums in yellow, red and bronze, or add in vegetables and fruits for true harvest flair.

Texture also plays an important role in creating pleasing fall displays. A mixture of plants with textures, such as wispy grasses or bumpy succulents, with smooth surfaces like pumpkins adds interest. Gourds and squash with bumpy skins also can serve as contrasting elements. Another way to add both texture and color interest is to group a porch display on outdoor rugs in vivid colors, such as red rugs and yellow rugs. This will give the decoration tremendous visual attraction from the street.

Wreaths offer an additional way to dress up an outdoor space in fall. Dried fruits and berries, along with colorful fall leaves, can serve to decorate doors and windows well into the fall. As winter approaches, leaves can be substituted with pine boughs or other evergreen branches, and decorated with new additions such as holiday bows, metallic balls or different season fruits. What's more, don't be stingy about wreaths. Hang them in every available space; just be sure they coordinate with other decorations.

A new way to gather ideas for harvest season display is to go on a variation of the "leaf-peeping" drives to look at changing fall colors. This new tradition is known as a "drive-by" wherein homeowners drive around neighborhoods and take pictures of interest porch displays. This kind of search can uncover all kinds of harvest time decorating on porches, doors, courtyards and other outdoor spaces. It's probably wise, however, to look for inspiration in neighborhoods at some remove from one's own, to avoid joshing about "copycat" displays.