How to Make the Perfect Christmas Wreath

Christmas is coming, which means it’s time to start decorating your home from top to bottom with Christmas trees, decorations, lights and, most importantly…. a welcoming wreath on your front door.

There’s nothing more inviting for family members than to see than a stunning floral masterpiece as they enter, especially if they know you made it yourself.

If you’d love to give it a bash but you’re not sure how to start, we’ve put together a step by step guide for you! Read on for a little inspiration….

You’ll need:

    • Wire
    • Silver birch & cornus twigs (i.e. anything pliable and twiggy you have in the garden)
    • Moss
    • String / florists wire
  • A range of different foliage, flowers and seasonal items (i.e. holly, berries)

Step 1:

Bend your wire in to a circular shape using 2 or 3 pieces of wire. Coat hangers are ideal for this because you can use the hanger to hold your wreath up.

Once that’s done, grab your moss and start padding out your wire circle.  Add a generous layer all around the frame.

You’ll need thick, dry moss as appose to damp moss, otherwise you’ll struggle to build it up afterwards.

Finally, bind together using your string or florist’s wire.

Do this by using an inward and outward motion right around the wire ring, then tie it up.

Aim for padding to be about 3in (7.5cm) across. Don’t get much wider than this or it will look too heavy.

Step 2:

The next step is to cover the moss with silver birch, cornus twigs or some rosemary sprigs – in other words, anything pliable and ‘twiggy’ you have in the garden. (as they help create a more generous look and strengthen the frame.

Push the stem ends in hard so that they jam into the moss and then, every so often, bind them in a curve on to the base with wire.

Step 3:

Now you’ve got to this point, you should have a pretty sturdy looking wreath, which means you can now you can start to add a little colour!

First, you should concentrate on your biggest and brightest items.  I.e. flowers, apples, craft items and ornaments.

You should place these parts on to the so called 3, 6, 9 triangle of your wreath. Meaning to the left, right and bottom.

If you’re using flowers, the stems should stick straight into your base, but for everything else, just use a little more florists wire. You may need to be a little persistent, but they will stick eventually.

Step 4:

Once you have added your centre pieces, you should then add smaller leaves, holly, berries and flowers.

This can be the trickiest part of the whole process, as you’ll need them all to have a stem of some kind.

The only other alternative is to make a ‘daisy chain’ from what you have, then weave them on to the base – but this can be tricky.

If you stick to holly vines and stalked flowers, you should be fine.

  • If the moss dries out, rehydrate it by floating the wreath in a sink of water for half an hour every week or so. It will usually last around a month if kept cool, hanging outside.