Today’s the day I’ve been anticipating for months. It’s the day I go to the Felton Holiday Wreath Makers get together to create another masterpiece (hopefully). I plan to make several for friends and neighbors, although some of those prior recipients are coming with me today to make their own and share the camaraderie that is sure to ensue. Last year I made five. I hope to beat that record this year.
This get together is an informal gathering of friends and relatives at the home of Barb and Reg, who graciously gather and provide clippings of evergreens, colorful berries, foliage and flowers for us to use in our wreaths. Some wreath makers bring their own succulents, proteas or other interesting additions for their wreaths. I’m always amazed at how creative people can be.
I was first invited to the Annual Wreath Makers get together a little over 10 years ago, but Barb has been creating wreaths with friends since about 2003. Friends and relatives come from near and far to enjoy some bubbly and pastries. We’ll have a great time. Barb told me a couple years ago that 44 wreaths were created over a few days. Hers will all be stunners as she likes ‘em big and lush.
Barbara explained that she once took a floral making class at Cabrillo. “I got hooked,” she says. “Now I’m obsessed.” Some “wreathers,” as we’re called, work fast, putting together bundles of mixed foliage with lightning speed and attaching them to the frame with wire on paddles. Others are more meticulous, grouping each bundle of various foliage with exactly the same mix.
That’s pretty much it for required tools—gloves, clippers, a frame and paddle wire. A hot glue gun is a nice tool for attaching accents like cones, berry clusters, driftwood, lichen, feathers, shells or flowers. Floral picks work nicely for small fruits like Meyer lemons, clementines or small pomegranates.
Last year Barb and Reg collected a slightly different mix of material. “It’s different every year,” she says. During the drought years, they had to get creative as some of the greens didn’t look very good. This year they collected over two days—mostly on public land. They do have a source of variegated holly from a private garden up on Alba Road. Barb says she starts with a list of places and greenery they are looking for and hopes for the best.
Everyone makes a slightly different style of wreath, choosing greens, berries, seeds, pods and hydrangea blooms or flower clusters of eucalyptus, acacia, pittosporum and Ruby Glow tea tree. Hollywood juniper, deodar cedar, red cedar, black pine, boxwood, camellia, oleander with long, slender seed pods and red flower buds, California bay, privet with berries and bottlebrush are just some of the plant material that we used last year.
Take advantage of this opportunity to prune your evergreen shrubs and conifers, but don’t whack off snippets indiscriminately. Cuttings from fir, redwoods, pine, holly, mahonia, strawberry tree, toyon and cotoneaster parneyi make fine additions to your wreath or swag. To reveal the plant’s natural form, prune from the bottom up and from the inside out. Avoid ugly stubs by cutting back to the next largest branch or back to the trunk.
If the plant has grown too dense, selectively remove whole branches to allow more air and sunlight to reach inside the plant. Look outside for different shades of foliage and spent flower heads. You can make a stunning wreath yourself from most anything you find around your garden. You’ll be amazed at what you can find right outside your door.
You can have chestnuts roasting on an open fire and Jack Frost nipping at your nose, but what would the holidays be without a beautiful wreath to decorate your door? Trust me, you can’t make a bad wreath. They all turn out beautiful.
Jan Nelson, a landscape designer and California-certified nursery professional, will answer questions about gardening in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Email her at ja******@ao*.com, or visit jannelsonlandscapedesign.com.
