How to Make a Natural Christmas Wreath

With all the other expenses at this time of year, buying new decorations is one we don’t need to add. Not to mention the fact that using real greenery is so traditional and smells so good! You can still have the Christmas-y scent by making your own natural Christmas wreath! (while still having your artificial pre-lit tree up as early as you like)

If you have any evergreens in your yard, you can make your own natural Christmas decor for almost FREE.

Junipers, cedars, pine, holly, cypress, boxwood, magnolia… so many options! If you don’t have any in your yard, you probably have a neighbor or a friend that would gladly give you some.

We had a plethora of cedar this year when Mr. Menace cut down 6 trees for a project he has in mind. I’ve always wanted live Christmas wreaths but since our winters are so mild, I didn’t want to pay the price for them and to only have them dry out too quickly.

Now, you know that I am a thrifty person.

Thrifty Gardener.

Thrifty decorator.

Cheap Thrifty is my middle name! And this was my chance to get my own lush live greenery wreaths.

Purchases:

Supplies needed are minimal. Go to the Dollar Tree and buy a wire wreath form and a package of floral wire. That’s it. $2 for a GORGEOUS wreath!

Get your wire wreath form and let’s get to it!

Greenery:

There are all types of greenery you can use. I chose cedar, eucalyptus, and pine. All three have tantalizing seasonal scents.

I almost brought in some holly too, but decided that I didn’t want to mess with the prickly leaves.

Other necessities for wreath making:

Wire cutters, pruners and ribbon if you want to add a bow, or a ribbon hanger.

And don’t forget to have a good Christmas movie on tv and a nice drink to make everything go smoothly.

Step One: Trim the Greenery

The cedar limbs were rather large and you will want to work with small pieces, so you need to trim them down. Clipping off small full pieces of greenery that are about 8 inches long.

I trimmed up the cedar, the eucalyptus and the pine all at one time and put the smaller pieces in piles on my table.

However, my pieces of greenery, that you see above, were more like 12 inches and were too big. Once I started to use them, I realized that I needed to cut them down some more for the size wreath form I had. (12″)

Step Two: Create Individual Bundles

The easiest way to create a FULL wreath, is to make several small bundles and attach them to the wreath form. It took about 10 bundles to fill my wreath form.

TIP:

Have some pieces of wire cut to about 24″ long before you being making your bundles. It is frustrating to get one created and then realize you have to lay it down because you forgot to cut wire.

You can make all your bundles just alike or you can do like I did and make them all a bit different. Begin with a good bigger piece of cedar for the background, and then add smaller pieces in front. To vary it, sometimes add a piece of pine and then eucalyptus. And sometimes eucalyptus and then pine. And for a third option you can sometimes add a smaller piece of cedar in front.

Wrap the stems of the bundle tightly with a piece of wire to hold them together.

Step Three: Attach Bundles to Wire Wreath Form

Attach your first bundle to the wire form by wrapping it with wire. Once it is secure, place the second bundle below the first, covering the stems and wire of the first one. Wrap the second bundle securely with wire. Add the third bundle below the second covering its stems and wire and continue adding bundles all the way around the wire form.

Tip:

I prefer to use a long piece of wire to attach the bundles to the form. It was difficult to get whole package of wire through the form, so I cut a piece about 2 yards long to work with. If your wire is wound on a paddle, you could probably easily get the whole thing through the form and not have to cut until you reached the end.

When you get all the way around the frame and back to the first bundle, place your last bundle underneath the top of the first bundle. This will create an unending circle of greenery.

Now you can add a bow or a ribbon hanger, but honestly, it’s just too gorgeous on its own. I think a bow might be overkill.

And yes. That’s my fall rug still out on display.

And not only that, but that’s also a fall door hanger… just hanging out… Life isn’t perfect ya’ll. At least not at my house.

As you can see, the 12″ wire form was plenty big! After adding the full bundles of greenery it is much bigger than the original 12 inches. It’s more like 16-18 inches. If you use any bigger form, you’d need a large wall to hang it on. Or you could probably wire your bundles tighter so that they didn’t spread out quite as much. But I’m kind of in love with the free form style of this one.

Making my own natural evergreen Christmas wreath was really WAY easier than I expected and the results were very professional looking! If you decide to make your own, I’d love to see it!

Pin this image for future reference!

Do you grow herbs? They make great wreaths and bouquets. I put my herbs in an antique bed! Yep.

Here is the video I watched before making my wreath if you’d like to watch it too.  

Next, I want to try making my own garland like this one from Fresh Exchange.

Would you like to learn more about herbs? Sign up below and get my Perennial Herb Guide and my Annual & Biennial Herb Guide. That way you can read up now and get ready to grow your own herbs for next years wreath making session!