Another Halloween in my Succulent Garden

The photo atop this blog entry shows a number of characters who are meeting in my indoor succulent garden before Halloween. It's the fifth year that characters have come to visit my succulent garden for this particular holiday. As many of you know, I have a garden on my terrace where I grow cacti, herbs, ornamental grasses, plants, shrubs as well as trees. The succulent garden that I maintain inside my home, is not only for unusual cacti, it is a place that an array of characters come to visit for various occasions.

With the exception of Humpty Dumpty, Ms. Skeptic is the one who has been visiting me the longest in honor of Halloween. I've indicated her identity (number twelve within the group image below, Humpty is number 13). I've also included Ms. Skeptic's and Humpty Dumpty's solo photo-ops.

In 2011, her first year here, Ms. Skeptic was the hostess to a small group of characters, but the group of visitors has gotten much larger over the years. In fact the numbers of whimsical visitors has gotten so big, that some of them (not seen in either of these group images) have moved beyond my garden and into my main living area; taking up residence in my armoire and making themselves at home on my shelves! 

A number of the characters featured in these group photos were discussed in posts I wrote for hometalk in 2012 and 2013 under the following titles: Boo! Halloween in Both my Urban Terrace & Indoor Gardens,  Halloween Decor Indoors (mostly), Group B Wins The Coin Toss, Group A Wins The Second Coin Toss, Group C  Wins 3rd Coin Toss, Conclusion of Follow-Up Halloween Decor, Honoring National Pumpkin Day With a Contest in My Garden, and At Halloween and Always, Make New Friends, Keep the Old

In any event, this year, those visiting my succulent garden — with the exception of the four judges (seen at the far right portion of the image atop this entry and identified by white arrows in the second image above) as well as Humpty Dumpty (who is actually a permanent resident) — are here rehearsing in hopes of being the witch that is chosen to appear on America's Got Talent! 

All of the judges here are trying emulate Howie Mandel in order to prepare the hopefuls for a best American witch win.

Here are the close-ups of the witches in this competition.

No.01, Trixie (who has visited me in prior years):

No.02, Ms. Grim (a newcomer):

No.03, Trixie's Sister (who has also been here in bygone years):

No.04,  A Yellow-Caped Witch Wears a Polka-Dotted Bowtie (She's another newcomer.)

No.05, Mom Witch w/Child's Doll (She's also been here in bygone years.)

No.06, Queen of the Night (another new comer):

No.07, Flirty Gertie (She's also been here in bygone years.)

No.08, Esperilla (She's also been here in bygone years.)

No.09, Enchanted Eliza (She's also been here in bygone years.)

No.10, Adorable Dora (She's also been here in bygone years.)

No.11, Precious Pumpkin (She's also been here in bygone years.)

No.s 12 and 13 (Ms. Skeptic and Humpty) were mentioned earlier in this entry, here's No.14, Ms. Bat-Wings, a newcomer!

No.15, Ms. Witch in her cat-drawn carriage (She's also been here in bygone years.)

No.16, Sissy, AKA Madam Witch riding her cat (She's also been here in bygone years.)

No.17, Wicked Willow with her Wand (She's also been here in bygone years.)

No.18, Annie McFANNY (another newcomer):

 No.19, Precious Pixie (She's also been here in bygone years.)

I'm delighted by the presence of all these contestants, as are the judges, and perhaps this is helping us to appreciate Howie Mandel's difficult task of discerning who a winner is when there are so many qualified candidates!