Make your own Christmas wreath

It’s time to welcome the arrival of the festive season, here at the Gardeners Club we believe the Christmas wreath is a must have festive decoration. It’s the first thing guests will see as they approach your front door, it’ll get them in the Christmas spirit and make that all important first impression.

There are many different wreaths available but why not experiment with making your own. We’re going to run through a basic way to put one together and then give you some ideas on how to adapt and personalise it to make it your own.

What you’ll need:

• 14 inch wire wreath frame
• Short lengths of stub wire and thinner reel wire
• 3 ¾ lb moss
• Silver birch twigs or sprigs of rosemary
• A selection of greenery, which may include eucalyptus, sage, santolina, bay or lavender
• Seed pods or berries, such as agapanthus, spindle or Chinese lanterns
• Fruit, for example, limes, chillies, small Spartan apples, crab apples, mini peppers, cranberries and kumquats
• Long lasting and attractive flowers, such as hydrangeas, fuchsias or chrysanthemums

Making your wreath

1. Pad out your wire wreath frame using about 6 or 7 handfuls of the moss, making it no wider than 3 inches across. Try to keep the moss slightly moist to provide just enough water to keep the living parts of your wreath looking good.

2. Use the reel wire to ensure the padding is firmly and tightly attached to your frame.

3. Add a loop of wire to the top so that you can proudly display your wreath when you’ve finished.

4. If you’re worried about damaging your door, you can back the ring with plastic attached to the moss with short hoops of wire.

5. For an autumn feel and a lovely scent cover the moss with silver birch twigs or sprigs of rosemary. Push the stems in hard into the moss and bind them in with a wrap of stub wire.

6. Now for the colour; the easiest way to do this part is to divide your additions into 2 colour groups. The first is the strong zone; this will consist of 3 or 4 brightly coloured ingredients, placed around your wreath evenly spaced at 3, 6 and 9 o’clock. The second is the intermediate zone, consisting of the more timid colours which will create a nice balance between the strong, bright sections and the padded out moss. For example zone 1 could consist of limes and chillies and zone 2 could be hydrangea heads, seed pods and eucalyptus. Whatever you choose, your aim is to create a lovely contrast of colours and textures.

7. If you’re attaching items by their stems ensure they a poked firmly into the moss.

8. Fruit and vegetables with out a stem may take a little longer as you’ll need to use the wire to create a strong, false stalk with which to attach it. For large pieces of fruit push a length of green wire into the fruit where the stem once was, to at least half the fruits depth. Then poke in a second length of wire at a right angle to the previous one about a 1/3 of the way up the fruit, then simply bend the ends up and twist them securely around the central wire, creating a triple strength stalk. Small fruit can be attached by using just one piece of wire bent back on itself. Tiny bits of fruit can be threaded onto wire like a chain of beads, then leave enough wire showing at each end to attach the chains to the wreath base. Take your time over this part as it must be done right to ensure it all stays in place when you hang it on your door.

9. So now you know how, it’s time to attach your zone 1 items, then once they’re firmly in place it’s time for zone 2.

Personalise your wreath

So now you’ve got the hang of that, here’s some ideas on how you can personalise your wreath.

• A perpetual wreath; Use dried leaves and flowers in your design so that it won’t have wilted by the end of the festive season.
• Update an old wreath; Spray an old wreath, gold or silver to freshen it up.
• A fruit filled wreath: Berries and cherries will tick all the colour boxes for the festive season.
• Modify a garland; If you don’t have the time to create a wreath but you do have a spare length of garland you can easily stiffen it with a length of wire and tie it together at either end.
• A welcoming message; Hang a festive message from your front door wreath, for example Merry Christmas from the Gardeners Club.
• Create a pleasant scent; Try attaching cinnamon sticks, dried oranges and lemons, or even branches from your Christmas tree.
• A Floral Wreath: For a stunning display use flowers instead of leaves for your base, such as winter roses and carnations for beautiful array of seasonal colours.
• Use what’s in your garden: Use bendy twigs, conkers and pine cones from your garden.
• Left over baubles: Baubles can be threaded over stiff wire and added to your wreath.
• Finish it off with a ribbon: Finish off with a nice big colour co-ordinated ribbon.