British Flowers Rock!

You don’t have to stop enjoying your British flowers just yet. The days have got shorter; the trees are doing their best to steal the show; how about a last forage round your garden for some goodies to make yourself an autumn inspired wreath for your door?

I like to make my wreaths from natural ingredients so that they can go straight on the compost heap when I’ve finished with them in January. You can easily keep tweaking your wreath to take you from autumn abundance through to Christmas cheer!

I start with a circle made from willow, but you could use any bendy twiggy material you can find. Willow and dogwood often have really colourful stems which look good if you leave some of the circle showing.

Then I have a good rummage round to find interesting colours and textures – think beech leaves in greens, yellows and rust, ivy, especially trailing stems with variegated foliage and the kind with pale green flowers or black berries which blackbirds love so much. I enjoy using rusty bracken fronds, bits of twig – delicate birch is good; this year there are berries everywhere so include some of those; teasel heads are great too – but leave some for the goldfinches.

Once I have my willow/twiggy circle, I make mixed mini bunches of my forage finds. I tie them with garden twine. This is the point where you need to decide if you’re going for a neat or a wild and wonderful creation. The bigger your mini bunches, the more unruly your final design will be. (It’s a good idea to measure where you’re going to hang it before you start to make sure it’s not going to be too big)

Then I bind my bunches to the willow with more twine, either all the way round or just part way to show off the colours of my willow. And there it is – a seasonal circle of autumn colour and texture. No need for moss or wire.

If you’d like to add a pop of colour you could push in some jewel coloured chrysanthemums or the last few blooms from your garden. Or if Halloween is your thing, a mix of mini pumpkins or gourds would look fabulous. You can add fruit like crab apples or rosehips or even oranges and lemons. And when thoughts finally turn to Christmas the addition of some evergreens and holly and maybe a string of mini fairy lights will change the mood again. Don’t forget to take the lights off before you consign it to the compost heap in January. Happy Autumn!

Vanessa Swetman