How To Make A Natural Christmas Wreath

Making your own fresh Christmas wreath can be cheap and easy

A festive wreath hung on the front door is the epitome of Christmas. Once you know how, they are really easy to make and can be made for just a couple of pounds, as opposed to paying quite a lot of money at the florists. If you put a little effort into sourcing materials you can get the greenery, berries and cones for free. If you don’t have any suitable plant material in your garden a walk in the countryside can supply almost all the fresh material you will need; with the exception of the moss. There is also the added bonus of taking exercise without the need to pay for the gym. Don't forget not to trespass on private property, unless you have the landowners permission.

 You will need:

• wire wreath ring
• florists wires
• reel of florists wire
• wire cutters
• floristry scissors
• scissors
• glue gun and glue sticks
• sphagnum moss
• conifer or evergreen branches
• berries
• cones
• wired ribbon

First of all securely attach the reel of wire to the wire ring; if it isn’t secure all the moss will fall out. Place a handful of moss onto the ring and tightly wind the wire around the moss and ring, continue this until all the ring is covered in moss. Secure the end of the wire to the ring. Make sure the wire is tight otherwise when you try and place the berries and evergreen branches into the moss it won’t be firm enough to hold the sprigs.

Next stage is to place in the greenery, either the conifer or evergreen branches. Cut off pieces of the branch about 15cm (6”) in length and strip off the bottom few leaves to leave the ends bare. Gather together 2 or 3 pieces and wire together with the lengths of florists wire. Bend the wire over to form a U-shape and twist one end around the stems and the second leg of the wire. Push the wire into the moss; you may have to cut the wire down if it is too long, bend the greenery back on itself. Repeat this until all the moss is covered.

That is your basic preparation done so now you need to do the creative bit, which is to decorate with the berries, cones and ribbon. There are lots of berries at this time of year: holly, cotoneaster, pyracantha, skimmia, ivy, crab apples, rosehips and hawthorn. Cones are also abundant, coming in all shapes and sizes from tiny fir cones to the lovely long larch cones. Twigs covered in lichens can also look stunning in the wreath. Also keep a lookout for attractive seed heads and dried flower heads which you can spray with a metallic paint. If there are a lot of leaves compared to berries remove some so that the berries are more prominent. Wire the berries as you did for the greenery. If you are just using a 30cm (12”) ring place 3 groups of berries evenly around the wreath; if you are using a larger ring you may have to use 5 groups.

Evenly glue on 3 groups of cones in groups of 3. The cones are glued rather than wired as when it rains the cones close up and can sometimes fall out of the wire. Now all you have to do is add some bows and you’re finished. Make sure the bows are not out of proportion to the size of wreath. You will need a length of wire and some nice wired ribbon. Pull out enough to leave a tail then form two loops and leave enough to form a second tail, cut the ribbon off at an angle and twist the wire tightly around the middle. Pull out the loops so that they don’t lie flat.

If you are going to turn your wreath into an Advent Ring then you will need to put on 4 lots of berries, cones and ribbons. Don’t forget to keep spraying your wreath with fresh water to keep it looking fresh over the festive period.

For more ideas on how to decorate your home at Christmas on a budget just head to our Youtube channel.