Garnish with some favorite plants

• Conifers of any and every kind – pines, spruce, juniper, Doug fir, noble fir, cypress, colored conifers of every description, and plenty of green stuff for filler (go to the Christmas tree place and you can usually sweet-talk them into giving up some foliage)
• Red- and yellow-twig dogwood stems are the bomb
• Holly, or variegated false holly (Osmanthus ‘Goshiki’ or ‘Variegatus’)
• Silver dollar Eucalyptus
• Herbs like rosemary, sage, lavender and bay
• Pinecones
• Rose hips

Stuff you’ll need

• A wreath frame of some kind (can be re-used every year)
• Some green, thin wire for tying the foliage onto the frame ( lasts for years of wreaths)
• Pruners
• Thin nitrile gloves so you don’t get your hands all sappy
• A bow, if you’re so inclined
• A shopping bag or two of pretty clippings

Start making wreaths 1

Once you’ve decided on a theme, clean up your trimmings by cutting them to 6-10” long. The tips of the stems look best; discard the woodier sections of each branch. Pick a few stems and bundle them together with the cut ends facing the same direction. Attach your floral wire to the wreath frame (anywhere) and tie in your bundle of trimmings securely, wrapping the wire around the bundle once in the center of the bundle and once at the bottom near the cut stems.

Start making wreaths 2

Leaving the wire attached and holding it taut, grab a second bunch of foliage and set it over the first bundle with the cut ends facing the same direction. Cover the cut stems of the first bundle and wrap the wire around your second bundle, moving diagonally downwards with the wire.

Start making wreaths 3

Keep wiring foliage in around your frame until you reach the end. When you get to the last bundle, tuck the stems under the leafy top of the first bunch of foliage so that no cut stems are visible. Securely attach the wire to the frame and cut the wire.

Start making wreaths 4

Now’s the time to add accents like ribbons or pinecones, if you’re so inclined. To add a pinecone, wrap the cone with wire around the base, tucking the wire inside the cone so you can’t see it, and wire it to the frame. You can wire on a finished bow or just tie a bow around your wreath.

The care and feeding of wreaths

Stick it outside where it can get some moisture from the air, and spritz it with water every so often. That’s it! At the end of the season, compost the dried foliage and save your wreath form for next year.

The wire wreath features

Create an attractive seasonal decoration for your door or wall using this Green Wire Wreath Frame. You can design a motif using straw with autumn fruits and flowers or assemble a holiday decoration with evergreen boughs, ornaments and bows.