Christmas Gardening – evergreen wreath making

Even the humblest garden is full of suitable plants for wreath making, so there’s no need to lash out a fortune on a posh wreath from your local garden centre or supermarket – make your own and save the cash to spend on something you can’t have the fun of making for yourself like some champagne!

Foliage Wreaths

The main material used for Christmas wreaths is evergreen foliage and there are many different types and silver and gold toned variegated forms can add a flourish. Or you can invest in a spray can of gold or silver paint, or some glitter and glue, to add pizzazz to your foliage wreath.

Suggested plants:

Ilex x altaclerensis 'Golden King' – green holly with a splash of bright yellow gold on each leaf. An added bonus is that the leaves are free of spines.
Ilex 'Silver Queen' - holly of green foliage with a silver edge. This is a male plant so it won't produce any berries.
Hedera helix -the traditional English ivy. It grows in abundance and it should be easy to find a few leafy branches – once it’s woven into the wreath draw a stripe of glue around the edge of each leaf and sprinkle with glitter for a bit of va va voom.
Hedera colchica 'Sulphur Heart' – gorgeous persian ivy with large often heart-shaped variegated leaves.
Eucalyptus gunnii - attractive blue-green scented, round leaves. The young foliage is very flexible and easy to work with and gives a lovely wintery scent to your wreath.
Picea abies, Norway spruce - branches from this traditional Christmas tree make your wreath like a tiny Christmas all on its own.

No wreath is complete without berries. If you cut the branches before the birds get to them you can store them in a cold place, like the shed in a couple of inches of water, for several weeks. There are many alternatives to holly berries:

Ilex aquifolium, common holly - traditional red berries, very prickly
Viburnum opulus -orangey-red berries, not prickly
Symphoricarpos x doorenbosii 'Mother of Pearl', snowberry - has a whitish-pink berry not prickly but pick this one early as the birds love it.
Ilex opaca, holly - this holly has attractive yellow berries and is not as spiky as the traditional one
Rose hips – to add a pretty and feminine touch

Christmas gardening evergreen wreath photograph by Emiline220, used under a creative commons attribution licence