© Janet Davis

 

Your holiday wreath offers all kinds of opportunities for creativity! Whether you like the simplicity of natural evergreen boughs or prefer adding your own artistic flourish, here are some ideas for making your wreath a one-of-a-kind creation. 

 

If you are making your own wreath, you can either:

 

·         Make it entirely from scratch, using a wire wreath form (available from craft stores) and filling it tightly with damp sphagnum moss, then wrapping it with plastic (a garbage bag cut into strips is fine) before poking in the sprigs of the plant material you wish to use, e.g. pine, cedar, boxwood, etc.

 

·         Make it from scratch using a chicken-wire frame.  Use wire cutters to cut a length of flexible chicken wire about 6 inches (15 cm) wide and 36-48 inches long (90-120 cm), depending on how big you want the finished wreath to be. Lay the chicken wire out on newspapers on a table, then pile damp sphagnum moss on top. Roll the chicken wire up to form a long cylinder, wrap with plastic strips and insert plant material, as above.

 

·         Use a ready made wreath such as grapevine or straw, (available at craft stores) wiring to it the plant material you wish to use. The evergreen shrub boxwood makes a delightful holiday wreath. The fine-textured foliage lasts well and its blue-grey colour is understated and lovely. This type of wreath is the essence of simplicity and really needs no other decoration.   But if you want to dress it up, do so with restraint: wire on an elegant, sage-green velvet bow, a scattering of pearl beads or, for an indoor location, a nosegay of dried, red sweetheart roses.

·         A fresh evergreen wreath is merely the starting point for your own creativity! Whether balsam fir, cedar, white pine or spruce, that circle of green can be enhanced in any number of ways. You can wire in colourful sprigs of gold cypress, gold or purple cultivars of juniper and other vibrant evergreens from your own garden. Dried flower heads such as astilbe or sedum work well, as do fruits and berries. Try crab apple branches, winterberry (Ilex verticillata), the velvety red fruits of wild sumac, purple beautyberry (Callicarpa), hawthorn (Crataegus), rose hips and anything else you might find. Don’t be hesitant about mixing artificial or dried material with the natural. Consider shiny tree ornaments (glass balls or apples), little wooden soldiers, dried slices of oranges or lemons, gilded pomegranates or walnuts, cranberry garlands made by threading the berries onto strong hobby wire, bows, pinecones, dried flowers or seedheads (lotus seedheads are fabulous) and little feathered birds from the craft store.

 

·         If you’re handy with a spray can, or merely looking for an elegant look for your front door (especially if it features a brass knocker, letterbox or knob), consider spraying your wreath with a gold- or brass-coloured enamel spray.    That way, you can even keep your wreath from year to year.

 

Adapted from an article that appeared originally at Chapters Online

 

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