In last week’s column was a suggestion of a do-it-yourself Christmas gift—a personally made orange pomander ball.
This week’s column has another DIY Christmas gift idea— specifically for the gardener on your list. A Christmas Gardener Wreath can be personalized to your special gardener. Does your gardener like vegetables? Give it a vegetable theme. Is your gardener partial to ornamentals? Flowers, colorful foliage or berries can be the theme. Are they “nuts” about conifers or oaks? Adorn the wreath with pine cones or acorns.
Wreaths are circlets of material. They may be small or large, made of organic plant material, fabric, silk, or even artificial greenery. The framework of the wreath can be store-bought evergreens already in the shape of a wreath or an ultra-homemade wreath fashioned from evergreens harvested from your personal garden. Homemade wreaths are easy to assemble.
Constructing the wreath framework
• Start with the frame. Purchase foam, straw, or wire forms from hobby shops or harvest plant material from your own garden. Botanics that can be fashioned into a wreath are grape vines, Artemisias, grasses, conifers. Let your imagination be your guide.
• Assemble desired greenery. Cut sections into lengths with tips proportional to the size of the wreath frame.
• Florist tape is an unobtrusive material with which to bundle foliage; secure bundles to frame by wrapping the tape around the frame several times.
• Repeat placing greenery around the frame, positioning largest pieces of foliage first on the frame.
• Add layers of greenery, largest as the foundation, smallest at the top; overlap each bundle of greenery so that tape does not show.
Decorating the wreath
After the greenery base is complete, decorate it with personal items that fit your gardener’s needs or their personality. Some suggestions:
• Gift certificates for your gardener’s favorite nursery, greenhouse, or seed company
• Gardening gloves—several pair in different colors
• Pruners—seems like pruners disappear in the growing season and an extra pair can always be used
• Soil thermometers—no more guessing if soil is warm enough to start the garden
• Packets of novel seeds—the packets can be themed by herbs, flowers, vegetables
• Lip balm—lips get dry in the garden
• Moisturizers with sunscreen—skin needs protection also
Put on your thinking cap and have fun fashioning a DIY gift for that special gardener on your list.
Ellen Peffley Harp, a retired professor of horticulture at Texas Tech University, writes about gardening for several Texas newspapers.
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.
