Now is an ideal time to decorate outdoor wreaths. We have been very busy here as last week Richard, our willow grower, showed us how to weave a willow wreath. Christmas willow wreaths are lovely, but the stems of some of our garden plants can be used too.
Cornus stems for example come in red, orange and yellow and can be used on their own or added to the willow. Honeysuckle and vine stems are also useful and can again be used on their own or with willow or cornus.
We tend to use natural material from the garden to fill in the willow ring but dried or silk products, baubles and ribbons can be used . If using fresh foliage it will need spraying with water to keep the foliage alive
If you haven’t got access to willow then making a wreath using a plastic backed oasis is quite straightforward to do
On Monday I went to Heswall Flower Club and made a wreath for our front door (thank you to Eleanor and Jill who ran the workshop). I don’t make a moss ring any more as it is very time consuming and quite fiddly, so I prefer using an oasis ring . The ‘fillers’ for this ring were blue spruce and tree ivy which I then decorated with small apples from the garden, fir cones, orange slices (which smell lovely) and cinnamon sticks.
This was quite simple but effective, but again fresh flowers, ribbons, baubles etc. can be used to add a bit more colour.
Blue Spruce is a really good base foliage for many of our Christmas decorations but not many of us have one in the garden and it is quite difficult to find it for sale. However, there are lots of lovely shrubs and trees which are easily grown in the garden which can be used for foliage. So, why not have a go and make your own door wreath, or even make one for a friend!
P.S Marks and Spencers have got some lovely bunches of pussy-willow and berries for sale if you don’t have any of your own!