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How To Make A Traditional Christmas Wreath, with JenniBloom Flowers

Photography Credit: Carrie Lavers Photography

Hanging from your door or sitting as a centrepiece in the middle of your table, the traditional Christmas wreath is the ultimate festive decoration. We asked our dear friend, JenniBloom Flowers, to share her how-to guide to making a traditional wreath this festive season.

Renowned creative floral designer, Jenni Bloom, creates evocative, atmospheric and seasonally embraced flower arrangements and installations for weddings, events, editorial and brand projects. Her floral style harks of a Dutch Masters still-life era yet with a modern edge, focusing on the abundance, form and wild beauty of nature.

With a mutual adoration of florals and the breathtaking British countryside, we teamed up for some festive fun with foliage.

How To Make A Christmas Wreath

Wreath Making Supplies You Will Need:

A wire wreath frame

A roll of Florists Bundle Wire

Scissors

Mossing Pins

Ribbon

Pin or wire (for the ribbon)

Wreath Decorations You Will Need:

A bag of sphagnum moss (or a large bucket of loose moss raked up from the garden)

Spruce or Fir offcuts (here I have used 2 big branches of Blue Spruce Pine cut into about 30 springs)

Assorted Eucalyptus stems of your choice

Berries (foraged rosehips look lovely)

Decorative items, such as feathers and dried seed heads. I have used Fern sprayed with silver spray to add a textural element to my wreath

You can forage for your own ingredients if you like. Yew can be used instead of pine and rosehips make great alternative berries. Dried Beech foliage also looks particularly beautiful, but it’s up to you.

Wreath Making Step-By-Step

01. Make the moss ring.

Start by gathering your first handful of moss onto the top of the wreath frame. Be liberal with the moss – the thicker you make the ring, the stronger it will be. Aim for around a 2 inch thickness. Unravel some of the wire from the reel, and wrap around the moss tightly, over and under the frame a few times so the moss is contained.

Tie off the wire and twist the end onto a piece that goes under the frame to make a hoop for hanging. It may be useful to tie a piece of ribbon onto the hoop so you can remember where the top of the wreath is.

Leave the wire un-cut and to the side, as you add another large handful of moss onto the frame (pushing it tightly up against the bound moss) binding with the wire, in under and over actions. Keep the wire taught as you go. Keep going with this method in a clockwise direction, until you have completely covered the frame.

Once you have covered the frame, check for any thin and uneven areas of moss. You can place handfuls of moss over the thinner areas and then bind the whole ring again for extra security.

02. Add your base elements.

Now you can start to use the heavier foliage stems, such as Conifer, Spruce or Fir. Snip lengths of these and remove the lower needles. Depending on how big you would like your wreath to be, you can leave the Conifer at longer lengths or shorter if you would like a more contained wreath.

Start at the top of the moss ring, and add in the conifer. Place it into the moss at an angle, not upright. The sharper the angle you cut it, the easier it will go into the moss. Aim to get the end of the stem in a few cm’s. Use the mossing pins to secure and leave some gaps for the other ingredients.

Continue clockwise, adding in the sprigs, keeping them in the same direction as you go. Mix it up and add in the other foliage sprigs in the gaps, along with berries and decorative items. You can be totally daring and creative here and make it as wild as you like!

03. Choose your decorative elements.

Once you are happy with the overall depth and different shapes and textures of foliage, fill in any gaps with berries and other decorative elements. Push these into the moss so they are secure (you shouldn’t need to use the pins for these).

04. Finish with ribbon.

Take a length of ribbon and tie into a bow. Using a a piece of stub wire, put the wire through the back of the bow and twist to secure. Trim the ends of the wire to a couple of inches and use as a pin to pin the bow into the top of the wreath or your preferred area.

Or you can use a mossing pin to push through the bow and into the area you would like it on the wreath.