Garden-Inspired Crafts: How to Turn Fresh Foliage Into Wreaths and Garlands

one of my finished handmade wreaths crafted with backyard bay leaves.

Ever since I was little, I’ve loved making things with my hands, from clumsy papier mache jewelry to the requisite 1970s tie dye or macrame project. So, it’s only natural that as I took my projects outdoors, I would bring that same handmade approach to the garden. Trust me when I say, this has gone desperately wrong at times. But I always seem to return to growing, cooking, and crafting with herbs.

A few years ago, inspired by Plant Craft, 30 Projects That add Natural Style to Your Home, written and photographed by Caitlin Atkinson (Timber Press), I began threading botanicals to create wreaths and garlands. If you’ve ever strung a macaroni necklace, you already have all the skills needed to create this project.

Previously I’ve posted (okay, whined) about the labor involved with maintaining the pleached crabapple hedge in my home garden. It seems that I have a penchant for inserting a formal element into my naturalistic, sometimes verging on wooly, planting style. Boxwood orbs appear throughout the landscape and next season I’m planning renovation pruning to bring my columnar yews back to attention.

I am especially fond of standards, traditional clipped lollypop forms including a very large bay tree (Laurus nobilis) in the back garden. I can’t believe I once feared for the young plant’s hardiness in my zone 8 garden. Today the now 10- to 12-foot tree is a constant challenge to keep pruned to the ideal that I hold in my imagination. Ladders are involved. But in addition to a return to a tidiness, the good news is, I have a never-ending supply of fragrant, fresh bay leaves.

Now it’s Your Turn

You’ll need:

• Fresh (but not too fresh) bay leaves*
• a small spool of 22- or 24-gauge wire from the hardware store
• Wire clippers and needle nose pliers

Unspool and clip a length of wire that’s about 18 inches long. Use needle nose pliers to form a small loop at one end of the wire to provide a stopper that will keep threaded leaves from slipping off the end. Now, using the end of the wire opposite the loop as a needle of sorts, carefully pierce each leaf close to its stem and all facing the same direction, onto the wire. Depending on your botanical material, you may be able to stack and thread multiple leaves at a time.

If you’ve ever strung a macaroni necklace, you already have all the skills needed to create this project.

Work leaves down to the loop end of the wire. Repeat adding leaves to your wire until you can form a tight circle to form a wreath with an inner diameter of 4- to 6-inches. For a garland, string leaves for as long as you’d like it to be. To finish your wreath, form the working end of the wire into a small hook that you can link into the initial loop to form a tight circle. Finish off your garland with another loop like the you made at the beginning.

This year’s garland, which I plan on hanging in the kitchen, measure around 14 inches long. If you have the leaves—and the time— start with a longer wire, which may become awkward to work with. Or create several small garlands and link them together to form a longer piece.

This year’s garland in process. Note the wire highlighted in blue

* Alternative foliage 

• Glossy camellia — you know, the chunky one that blocks the front walkway?
• Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo),
• Salal (Gaultheria shallon)
• Manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.)
• Wax myrtle (Myrica californica or M. cerifera)
• Eucalyptus
• Evergreen magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) would create a bold and majestic statement and let’s face it, the tree is always dropping leaves.

Basically, you can use any evergreen leaf with enough substance and maturity, new growth is often too fragile for threading. Choose leaves that will dry nicely or hold up for as long as you want your finished wreath or garland to endure. Bonus points for fragrant foliage or herbs that can be used in the kitchen.

Here is the requisite admonition to prune thoughtfully and appropriately, seasonal décor isn’t worth butchering your landscape shrubs. You can also shop for greens at your local floral studio, farmers’ market, or grocery store.

Happy Winter Holidays!