Wreath Season

Traditionally, on the first weekend of December we get our potted tree (or bring it in from the garden if it’s survived for another year) and I make our wreath. This year, due to extenuating circumstances, I’ve had to go a little early, but it just means that I can share it with you this first Advent.

I tend to make my own wreath because I love them wild rather than in the more traditional style, and I don’t know why but I have an aversion to dried orange slices. These Pinterest images were my inspiration this year, lots of greenery sticking out in various directions.

So first a visit to my local florist and then a bit of foraging. If you’re in Chichester, Hedge Rose always has a beautiful selection and run lovely workshops if you want some guidance. As well as the moss covered ring base, this year I bought pine for the main body which I’ve never used before, so it’s been a learning curve. I plucked a few sprigs of eucalyptus out of Hedge Rose’s foliage buckets and what I think are clematis seed heads, but do correct me. I cut some rosemary from my garden, and used some dried grasses I had in a vase.

Next, collect your tools. You need secateurs to trim your greenery, some floristry wire, and a pair of wire cutters to cut it to avoid ruining your kitchen scissors.

I’m sure there are multiple ways of wreathing, but the way I do it is to create mini-bunches, and then tie them to the wreath base. Collect up a few sprigs of your main foliage like the pine, add your decorative foliage like the eucalyptus and seed heads, and bunch them together using your floristry wire. Then wire them onto the moss base. You’ll want to work backwards, or that’s how it feels, so once your first mini bunch is wired on, you add the next on top of it, with the bushier foliage covering the stems. Work around like that until you’ve completed the circle.

Now you’ll want to assess. Hopefully your bunches have been fairly uniform so it should be fairly evenly bushy all the way around, but you can add and fan pieces out now. Because the pine is so fine and floppy, the bottom left curve looks thicker than the top right, so I’ve added some thicker sprigs of rosemary here, but I think I’m going to have to embrace its wonky shape. Once you’ve evened it up, add your decorations. I’ve kept mine quite simple this year with the dried grass heads and then a dark mustard velvet ribbon, but you can add all sorts of dried flowers, larger seed heads, dried fruits or baubles. If you’re adding more foliage, you can just poke the stems into the base, but for dried fruit or pinecones thread the floristry wire through them and twist them onto the base as you did the bunches.

I’m a fiddler, so I’ll probably be adding to mine over the next few days. I’m collecting spindly sticks on school walks and currently eyeing up the dried cornflowers in my cabinet…