Christmas is just around the corner. I don't know about you, but what I enjoy most during this season is decorating my home and garden. What if we swapped the traditional pine wreath this year for a beautiful wreath of vibrant rose hips? Let's go on one last autumn foraging walk together and follow our step-by-step tutorial to create a stunning Christmas wreath.

autumn wreath

1- What will I need?

  • A ready-made straw wreath base or flexible shrub branches to make your own (wisteria, willow, hazel, vine shoots...).
  • Berries: Rose hips, Cotoneaster lacteus or holly
  • Dried hydrangea flowers
  • Some autumn leaves (oak)
  • Fine garden twine or florist's wire
  • Scissors
  • Secateurs for trimming branches and harvesting berries

autumn wreath - step 1

2- How to make a Christmas wreath

  • Take your ready-made wreath base. You can also easily make your own by forming a circle with branches and securing them with garden twine or flexible branches.
  • Position some berry stems on your wreath, then secure them by wrapping fine twine (or wire) around the whole arrangement.

  • Add more berries, alternating with dried flowers and autumn leaves. Keep wrapping your twine around the wreath and decorations to secure everything firmly.

  • For the final decorations, tuck the stems under the first layer and wrap tightly with wire. Finish by tying off your twine.
  • There you go - your wreath is complete! All that's left is to hang it on your front door, a wall, or simply place it on a table as decoration.

3- Tips and advice

  • You can make a lovely branch wreath using different shrubs: Willow, Hazel or even the beautiful red stems of Dogwood. You can also use prunings from your garden shrubs.
  • There are many orange-red berries available in this season: rose hips, cotoneaster berries, crab apples and why not Physalis (Chinese lanterns)? You'll likely find them in your garden or during countryside walks.
  • For dried flowers, you could use Baby's Breath, Honesty, Statice, hydrangea flowers, or even ornamental grasses.
  • You could also make this decoration in late October as an autumn wreath and leave it in place until Christmas.

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