Ding-dong: Halloween’s here

Roger’s Gardens was bewitched by the Halloween spirit this week, offering a spooky holiday preview of the skeletons, witches, rats and cats on sale to the public starting Friday.

Screams and creaky doors pierced the air inside the Haunted Halloween Room as a statue of a woman offered a platter of rat to anyone who stopped to examine her.

All year, buyers for the home and garden store have been finding eerie trinkets for the store’s Halloween display culminating in the Witching Hour display.

“There is no store that does it quite like this store,” said artist and designer Bethany Lowe.

The Halloween room had items including tablecloths and collectible sculptures, and some of the featured artists were on hand Thursday to answer questions and sign their work.

Although not everything is going to break the bank, there are some hard-to-find and uncommon items for sale.

“It’s not just high-end, expensive, over-the-top items, although those are here, too, but there are also smaller things, very creative things,” store spokeswoman Genevieve Anton said. “The two buyers traveled all over the world — it’s almost like having someone do your Halloween shopping for you.”

Closer to the front entrance, Larry Fraga has his handblown glass ornaments on display. Fraga has been creating Christmas tree ornaments for 11 years, but in 2001 it was requested he try his hand at creating Halloween ornaments.

At first his ornaments were cutesy, but as the years progressed he created scarier ornaments. This year he’s created spiders and skulls, which were hung with care on an ominous, black, knotted tree at Roger’s Gardens.

These days, Halloween ornaments make up some of his biggest sellers.

“I love how realistic they are,” Fraga said. “You can actually tell what it is — from the blood vessels to the teeth.”

Fraga’s main customers are collectors, and his ornaments range from $20 to $250.

Back in the Haunted Halloween Room, the displays are broken up into the more frightening items and the more playful items. Artist and designer Dee Foust has created a line centered around stars, pumpkins and Halloween colors.

“I really love Halloween,” she said. “I’ve always really just overdone it.”

Her items are for the collector who loves vintage and American folk art, said Foust, a former Better Homes and Gardens editor.

The Witching Hour displays will be up at Roger’s Gardens through Halloween.