I love wreaths, especially those made of fresh foliage, flowers and plants. A couple of years ago, I attended a flower school course at my favourite flower shop, Green Parlour, where Emma, the owner, shared lots of great tips that could come in handy if you want to learn how to make a wreath for Christmas.
How to Make a Wreath
See Emma’s Christmas wreath demonstration on Facebook live.
Getting Started
Start with an oasis wreath form (oasis is also known as floral foam).
Soak the oasis form before use but don’t push it down into the water. (This can cause air pockets to form in the oasis and foliage inserted into an air pocket can’t take up any water so will not last.)
You must never re-use oasis. Use fresh for every project or the flowers will not last.
If you put a piece of foliage in the wrong place and remove it, do not re-use the hole that was made. Flowers inserted in existing holes won’t last as long.
Mist wreaths and arrangements with water regularly.
Making up and decorating the wreath
1. Carefully trim the edges of the oasis form, rounding it off to give a nice shape. (picture top right)
2. To start, build up layers of foliage (we started with eucalyptus), positioning the pieces carefully. Move round the form to give a nice shape. (Never insert pieces of foliage so they are sticking straight out from the sides.) Continue to build up the foliage, working on establishing a good shape to your wreath (pictures bottom left and right).
3. Once you have a good shape with lots of foliage, add a feature ingredient like pinecones, roses or orchids.
4. Enhance the wreath with ‘garnishes’. You can use slices of dried citrus fruit, more pinecones, dried seed heads or whatever other natural addition appeals to you. Here are a couple of our finished projects from the day.
5. Once your wreath is in place, be sure to mist it regularly to help keep the foliage fresh.
Green Parlour run flower schools throughout the year. You can learn more here.
Comments & Reviews
You are so talented! These are beautiful. I never even thought about making these myself. Great job! You are lucky to have such a talented artist to learn from. She seems like a great teacher! 🙂
Thank you so much, Erica! Emma really is a wonderful teacher 🙂
A fresh wreath is so pretty! I’ve never heard of an oasis wreath before. That is so cool that you can keep things looking fresh that long. I love it!
It really is, Heidi. Thank you 🙂
That looks so pretty! I like that it is really easier than I thought! Maybe I will make my wreath this year instead of buy one!
It really is easier than you might think, Leah, and you can make your wreath using all your favourite greenery and flowers!
This wreath is absolutely gorgeous! I love wreaths. So much so, I have a Pinterest board specifically for wreaths. And that’s exactly where this post is going!
Thank you so much, Cathi, and thank you for pinning too!
What a great how to for wreathes! My MIL used to do all kinds of wreathes all the time, but I never learned from her!
Thank you so much, Mitch.
This class looks like so much fun and the resulting wreaths are beautiful! What a great idea for a floral shop to hold classes!
It really was fun, Wendy. I love Green Parlour’s classes 🙂
We love making fresh Christmas wreaths and delivering them to our neighbors. One of our all-time favorite activities each year. Love your ideas and the ease of this pattern, will have to make one for our home!
What a lovely thing to do, Barb! Your neighbours are very lucky! Thank you so much for the compliment, I’m really glad you found the post helpful 🙂
Those look absolutely stunning. I didn’t know any of those oasis tips, so thank you.
Thank you, Pauline 🙂 I didn’t know about how to use oasis until I attended Green Parlour’s flower school either!
April, although we don’t celebrate Christmas I would still absolutely love to make one of these wreaths! So pretty and festive! Hope you are enjoying the holiday season! Pinned, tweeted and shared to Meal Planning Maven. xo
Thank you so much, Linda. I so appreciate your shares and support, my friend. xo
What a lovely idea April. It looks so pretty. I have always fancied making my own wreath. Thanks for sharing at Creative Mondays 🙂
It really was fun, Claire. Although I must confess, I got Emma to make mine this year as she really is much better at it than I am!