Gardening: Holiday Wreath

Gardening: Holiday Wreath

Photos by Hilary Roberts Photography

TERRI JACKSON

Winter brings so many wonderful ways to enjoy the outdoors in the South. Cooler temperatures and less mosquitoes make this a great time to get outside and prepare garden beds for the winter and those pesky freezes. Additionally, any clean-up of your beds now only helps you kick start your gardening in the spring. As I clean up my flower beds, I like to trim back some bushes to help with covering for freezes. It is a great opportunity to use those clippings along with bunches of fresh greenery from your florist to make a wreath you can enjoy throughout the winter.

For my wreath I am using rosemary, magnolia leaves, and lavender from my garden, along with seeded eucalyptus, olive branches, bay laurel, and red hypericum berries from my flower supplier. At the time of writing this article, evergreen trees are not available yet, so I am using my magnolia leaves as a base. Most places that sell fresh Christmas trees will gladly give you the clippings that are left over from where they bundle them. Those branches are perfect for wreath making.

Fresh winter wreath

Supplies: 14” Wire wreath form 22-gauge Paddle wire Floral clippers Wire cutters Variety of greenery and accents

Step 1: Assemble all of your supplies, making piles of each type of greenery. Pick apart the bunches, cutting your stems into neat sections.

Step 2: Take your paddle wire and wrap it around the wreath form at least three times, leaving the end towards the outside. You will not cut the wire until the wreath is finished.

Step 3: Start making bundles with your greenery, relative in size to your wreath form. I used a smaller form, so I made smaller bundles, roughly 12” long and 6” wide. As your bundles should be attractive, be selective in choosing greenery, and add accent berries or stems on top.

Step 4: Lay your bundle on top of where your wire is connected to the wreath form. Wrap the wire around your bundle three times, pulling it tight.

Step 5: Lay your second bundle to overlap the first bundle (hiding the wire where you tied the bundle to the form). Place this bundle slightly towards the outside of the wreath form, and wrap three times tightly with the wire.

Step 6: The third bundle should overlap the mechanics of the second and be placed slightly towards the inside of the wreath form. Wrap this bundle three times tightly with the wire.

Now that you have a fresh wreath base, you can leave it as is, or you can embellish it with ribbon, bows, and even craft store accents such as floral picks, artificial berry picks, or ornaments.

Step 7: Continue going back and forth with your bundles until you complete the wreath.

Step 8: Use an additional smaller bundle at the end to fill the meeting spot between your first bundle and your last bundle. You can add a bow here or fill the gap with one to two smaller bundles. Make the bundles smaller than your others, lifting up the first bundle you placed and inserting the smaller bundle underneath. Take the wire and proceed slowly to secure this bundle, so that you don’t pinch up your greenery. You may have to do another one to fill out the look, or you might accomplish this with only one.

Care Instructions: Every few days, spritz your wreath with water. If it hasn’t cooled off where you are, you may consider making this an indoor wreath until temperatures drop. Fresh wreaths will not do well in extreme heat or direct sun.

Have fun making this piece fit in with your holiday décor.

You can always remove the artificial accents afterChristmas, and continue enjoying your greenerywreath into the New Year.

TERRI JACKSON Terri Jackson is a wife, mom of two boys, professional florist, Disney World trip enthusiast, coconut sparkling water junkie, backyard party hostess extraordinaire, and all-around craft genius in Buda, Texas. You can find her at TheInspiredHaus.com .