Check your yard for wreath makings

When Jane Takai wants to make a quick wreath for the holidays, she just steps out her door and gathers whatever is in her garden. Takai’s “garden” encompasses nearly 200 acres of forest above Newman Lake, so she has a lot to choose from. When she and some of her neighbors gather every year to make wreaths and other holiday decorations, they bring stuff from their gardens.

“People bring this and that from their very own yards,” Takai says. “Everything is so lovely because it’s natural.”

Create your own holiday greenery

Making wreaths and other green decorations is not complicated. All it takes is a pair of hand pruners; foam, wire or straw forms; a bit of florist’s wire and a willingness to experiment.

Walk through your yard with a pair of hand pruners. Snip off interesting bits of greenery or branches.

Evergreens such as Oregon grape, arborvitae, cedar, firs, spruce, white pine, ponderosa pine and even junipers are perfect for wreaths. Deciduous plants with interesting branch shapes, bark color or texture and colorful berries are great contrasts to the evergreens.

Bright red rose hips or mountain ash berries and brightly colored stems from roses, vine maple and shrub dogwoods are just a few examples. Other candidates include the heads of ornamental grasses, stems of evergreen ferns and interesting roadside weeds.

“Fresh teasel is a brilliant beige color, almost golden. It’s a lovely accent to the greenery,” says Takai.

“Anything that complements the fresh greenery color (is what) I look for.”

The light florist’s wire and forms you need to put together your creations are inexpensive and readily available at craft stores or at home. Wire coat hangers from your closet can be simply bent into a diamond or round shape with the hook at the top.

Layer your greenery together to form a dense mat, working your way around the form, wiring down stems as you go to hide bare stems and branch ends. If you can’t prepare your wreaths right away, put the greens in water to keep them fresh.

Wreaths will last a long time if they are left outdoors, says Takai.

“As long as it stays cool, the greenery will hold its freshness and last two or three months,” she says.

To take advantage of this, consider making a generic wreath and then dress it up with brightly colored lights, ornaments and bows. When the holidays are over, remove the seasonal decorations and enjoy your creation for the rest of the winter.

If you are bringing greens into the house, soak them in water beforehand to keep them fresher longer. This is especially important for purchased greens like wreaths or swags that probably were made several weeks ago and have dried some. Remove any decorations that can’t get wet, trim branch ends you see, and then submerge the entire piece for a few hours.