Christmas is full of family traditions and for the past 3 years I have gone out foraging for materials to make my very own wreath, a tradition that I hope to carry out every single year.
This year was no different and I didn’t have to travel far for materials. We have a very overgrown bay tree in my parents back garden, it once stood proud in a pot by our front door until someone tried to steal it (we woke up one day to the poor tree lying on our lawn!) Since then it has been transplanted in the back garden flower border where it gets a little neglected, we don’t use the herb as much as we should and long tall branches have sprouted out of the top. These, it seems, were perfect for the main structure of my wreath and they smelt beautiful too. Plus it gave me the opportunity to give the bay a good prune.
The main piece of equipment that I use is a wire wreath ring which I bought from a local garden centre for £1.00, it isn’t necessarily needed but I like to use it as the main guide and something which I can attach everything too. I also use green florist wire (called Oasis Bindwire) and a pair of sharp secateurs for cutting and collecting all the natural materials.
Next on the list was the decorations and I decided to use some dried seed heads which I previously saved seed from a few weeks ago. Luckily enough I had kept them in my allotment shed and now they will give the perfect touch to my wreath. I’ll be adding dried Poppy seed heads and some dried Scabious Sternkugal for a bit of contrast, and also because they are my all time favourite flowers. I also managed to forage some beautifully coloured Sedum from the front garden to add to my collection, the flowers have all died but yet again I think the colour will add some great contrast to the final result.
All that was left to do was make the wreath!
Now I’m no expert at wreath making and my most important tip is to simply play around. The joy of making your own wreath means that you can make it as simple or extravagant as you want, you can add things and take them away and just make it your own. There’s no rules.
If you did want to see how I made my wreath then here is a short video all about it:
4 thoughts on “A Handmade and Homegrown Wreath”
It’s beautiful, Katie ! I love the natural rustic look. I’m going to look for that flower you love. Scabia ? I’ll write it down. Adore the seedpods it makes. Love all your videos. Thank you for sharing your world with ours. Merry Christmas to you and yours~~~
Thank you, the flower is called Scabiosa Stellata ‘Sternkugel’ and I bought the seed from Chiltern Seeds. Aren’t the seed pods just so unusually beautiful? Thank you so much and I hope you had a lovely Christmas.
The closer you get, the prettier it is.
Full of little details isn’t it?