By Sean Conway

How to Liven Up Your Christmas Wreath

Personalizing your Christmas Wreath is easy and inexpensive. You'll need only a few simple tools: a pair of pruners, some florist's wire and some wired floral picks. And you'll need a plain wreath to start with. This makes for a great project to do with the family right before Christmas.

The Christmas Wreaths we hang durong the holiday season have their origins in pre-Christian times. Germanic people made evergreen wreaths and lighted fires during the dark, cold days of December as signs of hope that spring would return -- and, with it, light and life.

If this symbolism has receded somewhat over the years, one way to restore it is to embellish your own wreath with natural materials found in your backyard. This makes for a great project to do with the family right before Christmas, an acknowledgement of the changing seasons and hope for the new year.

Personalizing a wreath is easy. You'll need only a few simple tools: a pair of pruners, some florist's wire and some wired floral picks. And you'll need a plain wreath to start with. It's probably easiest to buy one from your local garden center or DIY store. I usually choose balsam fir wreaths because they smell good and tend to be the least expensive. Look for what's known as a "double-sided" wreath, which has more balsam branches than a single-sided wreath.

Buying a fresh wreath is key -- you want it to last well into the new year. Before you buy your wreath, give it the "shake test": Vigorously shake the wreath and watch how many needles fall off. Some needle drop is OK, but if the floor is covered in green needles, choose another wreath.

Also examine the tips of the branches carefully. If they are bare and missing needles, it is another sign that the branches are no longer fresh.

Your next step is to gather additional evergreen branches, berries, seedpods and other natural materials from your yard. If you don't have an abundance of evergreens to choose from, you can purchase bundles of mixed greens from a florist supply company.

I am fortunate to have a variety of evergreen trees and shrubs in my yard, and the annual pruning they receive around wreath-making time keeps them looking good for the rest of the year.

Dried material such as seed heads from ornamental grasses or the dried flower heads of perennials such as sedum or yarrow also make excellent additions to a wreath. If their natural brown color is not appealing to you, a light coating of antique gold spray paint will liven them up.

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Look for wild-growing plants to add as well. Dried milkweed pods, wild rose hips, or any fruiting branches make excellent choices. I even add wild shelf- mushrooms to my wreaths. If I can find them, even abandoned birds nests work well.

Once you have collected your materials, start by adding the additional evergreens to the wreath. This will give the wreath bulk and dimension.

Add one evergreen branch at a time by wrapping the wire from the floral pick around the base of the branch and inserting it firmly into the wreath frame. Continue with a variety of branches, working clockwise. Layer the branches so they overlap slightly.

Once you are satisfied with the bulk of your wreath, start adding the dried material. Follow the same procedure, but this time bundle several stems at a time. Wire the stems to the floral pick, and push the pick into the wreath frame. Continue in a clockwise manner until you are pleased with the look.

Next add other accents such as berries, dried fruit or anything else you find interesting. If you chose to add a bow, be sure to use ribbon designed for outdoor use.

Creating a wreath using materials found in your own back yard not only restores a bit of the original symbolism to the holiday wreath -- it will give you the best-looking wreath in town.

An ordinary balsam Christmas wreath (pictured here) can be embellished with evergreen boughs, mushrooms, dried seedpods, berries and other flora from your yard to personalize your holiday decorations

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How to Liven Up Your Christmas Wreath - Decorating for Christmas

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