It was mid-summer and still very hot when Derek D’Andrea and his team at Arch in Bloom started creating their fall and Halloween themed displays.
In addition to offering landscape design, installation and maintenance, Arch in Bloom operates a garden center and retail shop at 201 Pemberwick Road in Greenwich, and every fall families make sure to schedule at least one visit to see his retail shop Halloween animatronics, peruse displays of pumpkins and perennials, pose under “Rocky” the giant skeleton and, in recent years, tour the “Halloween Town” haunted house.
September and October are special months at Arch in Bloom because Derek and his team go above and beyond to make the business a destination.
The masonry and construction crews began to fashion the very scary Halloween Town haunted house and spooky themed rooms in the retail shop in July.
Arch in Bloom founder Derek D’Andrea at the retail store check out by a portrait of Master Edward Gracey from Disney’s ‘The Haunted Mansion.’ Sept 13, 2025 Photo: Leslie Yager
Whether you’re more of a Munsters afficionado or an Addams Family devotee, the new wood shingle Victorian façade lures intrepid guests into the Halloween Town haunted house.
Throughout the rooms in the haunted house and sections of the retail shop, there are numerous spine-chilling themes including The Haunted Mansion, troll cave, Frankenstein’s lab, pirate’s treasure, Area 51 and Beetlejuice’s Adam and Barb Maintland with their stretched faces.
The Halloween Town haunted house at Arch in Bloom is seriously scary. Sept 13, 2025 Photo: Leslie Yager
“We have all your favorite scary characters,” Derek said on Saturday when all the displays were finalized.
“Each room takes time,” he said. “It’s a lot of work.”
“We like to keep people on their toes,” said Derek’s wife Jaime, after a reporter shrieked inside the haunted house.
Adam and Barb Maitland, characters from Beetlejuice, distort their faces to scare away the Deetz family. As the story goes the Maitlands perish in a car accident and don’t realize they’re dead. Sept 13, 2025 Photo: Leslie Yager
Derek and his wife Jaime said they recently sourced some cool salvage on the North Fork of Long Island, including an antique cash register now displayed at the retail store checkout beside a basket of dried sage bundles, ready for smudging.
Derek and Jamie explained the concept of smudging with dried sage.
“You light the end of the bundle until you see a flame,” Derek said. “When you blow it out and you see embers, it will be smoking.”
“You can walk around and waft some of the smoke over the objects you want to cleanse,” Jaime said. “Some people put it in a sage burning bowl. It purifies the space for good vibes only.”
An animatronic pirate at the front of the Arch in Bloom retail shop is next to a full taxidermy hammerhead shark and a brimming treasure chest and skeleton. Sept 13, 2025 Photo: Leslie Yager
An animatronic pirate at the front of the Arch in Bloom retail shop is next to a full taxidermy hammerhead shark and a brimming treasure chest and skeleton. Sept 13, 2025 Photo: Leslie Yage
Another display at the front of the retail store features a pirate, treasure chest and a full taxidermy hammerhead shark that Derek said was a new addition he found on Facebook Marketplace.
‘The jaw is attached to a fiberglass body, so the teeth are real,” he said.
Inside the shop there are several new Halloween-themed products, including tarot cards, oracle decks, Venus fly traps, dried flower bouquets, and a variety of books including a mushroom cookbook and a mushroom foraging book.
And there are a variety of candles with seasonal scents, Halloween ornaments, and the very popular pumpkin carving kits.
Derek said in September and October at Arch in Bloom there will be some ‘graveyard shifts’ where visitors can walk through the haunted house at night.
“There will be candies for the kids and we’ll have a bonfire going,” he said, adding that people should follow Arch in Bloom on Instagram for announcements about night time opportunities.
Pumpkins & Pints: October 4, 2025 from 12:00 to 6:00pm
Arch in Bloom’s Pumpkins & Pints event 2023. Photo: Leslie Yager
Also mark your calendars for Arch in Bloom’s annual “Pumpkins & Pints” event on October 4 from 12:00 to 6:00pm, featuring live music, hot dogs, beer and shopping.
“We recently met with Greenwich Brewing Company here at the nursery, and they’ve officially decided to partner with us for this year’s Pumpkins & Pints event,” he said.
“The team is really excited, and we will be showcasing some of their favorite brews, including Cardinal Red Ale, CT Lager, Peanut Stout, among others,” he added. “We think this will be a great addition to the event and are thrilled to be able to highlight a local brewery.”
Pumpkins & Pints is a chance to select your pumpkins and perennials, explore the retail shop brimming with seasonal items, venture inside the “Halloween Town” haunted house, and sip some beer samples from Greenwich Brewing Company. Also there will be Bratwurst, hot dogs, sweet treats, pumpkin painting, a scavenger hunt, a s’mores station and more!
Arch in Bloom is located at 201 Pemberwick Road in Greenwich. Tel. (203) 550-1235
Seasonal hours are 9-5 daily and 10-4 on Sundays.
Dried bundles of sage for smudging are displayed next to an antique cash register at Arch in Bloom. Sept 13, 2025 Photo: Leslie Yager
