Wreath-making – a step-by-step guide

Monday 5th December 2022

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Sara has put together this easy, step-by-step guide to making your own wreath, using greenery and berries found in your garden.

Basic greenery – any evergreen with smallish leaves

Conifer – any can be used; Leylandii, Golden Cyprus, Thuja Plicata

Viburnum tinus

Holly – green, variegated, yellow berried varieties

Ivy

Box

Extra interest

Skimmia jap. ‘Nymans’ – need male plant to produce berries on female plant

Cornus – for coloured stems

Cotoneaster – larger berried varieties

Crataegus laevigata ‘Carrierei’

Garrya elliptica

Euonymus myrianthus – evergreen with yellow fruits

Euonymus europaeus – good autumn colour with pink fruits

Eucalyptus

Rose hips

Punica granatum– Pomegranate

Aronia mel. ‘Autumn Magic’ – black fruits

Sarcococca – both red (ruscifolia) and black (confusa) berried

Fir cones

Cornus and salix stems – coloured stems

Hazel – Corylus avellana

Contorted Hazel – Corylus avellana contorta

Sorbus – red, orange, pink or white berries

Euonymus – evergreen varieties

Pittosporum

Birch stems

Hebe

Callistemon – Bottle brush

Alder

Heather

Orange slices, cinnamon, ribbon

Rosemary

Other useful shrubs to have for Christmas

Osmanthus heterophyllus – evergreen and scented

Daphne evergreen/semi evergreen scented

Lonicera fragrantissima – deciduous but scented

Sarcococca – fantastic evergreen scented lasts forever

Arbutus unedo – strawberry tree – pretty drooping flowers

Mahonia x m ‘Charity’ or other winter flowering vars

Camellia sasanqua ‘Hugh Evans’ – scented Winter flowering

 

A Wreath in Six Easy Steps

1. Collect up all you need:

• Wreath frame
• Reel thin floral wire
• Moss or alternative
• Secateurs
• Green foliage
• Accessories e.g. pine cones, bows
• Ribbon

2. Moss up your frame (you can use newspaper or hay or moss raked out of your garden) this will keep the foliage in good condition and prevent it from drying out. Tie the wire to the frame and go round and round securing the moss inside the frame.  This should create a tight round generously-filled circle as a base to wire your greenery onto (keep wire attached and put to one side).

3. Prepare your greenery and berries and snip them up into short stemmed sections 4” (10cm long).  These you will bunch together and tie into the frame but do not worry, they do not need to be perfect.  You will need more than you think.

4. Start to assemble the wreath.  Lay your bunch of greenery onto the moss and wire in tightly, make sure you keep going in the same direction.  Collect the next bunch together, lay this on top of the first slightly to one side and wire in tightly make sure your wire is over the stems and not the green foliage. Keep going in the same direction, you will see the wreath starting to take shape.  Continue until the wreath is completed, then tie off the wire to the frame to secure.

5. A wreath should be round with a empty centre.  You can prune out any wispy parts at this stage and, with short lengths of wire, wire in cones, orange segments whatever else you like.  Secure a separate wire to hang the wreath from and tie a bow to finish.

6. To keep your wreath in good condition, mist with water or leave in the rain to keep the moisture in the base which will keep the greenery in good condition.

Have fun and enjoy your creations.

                  

What you need to get started                       Cover your wire circle with moss          Make small bunches of greenery

 

              

Wire the bunches to the circle          Keep adding the bunches                The finished wreath

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