06 Dec DIY Kitchen Garden Wreath

Not just for Christmas, a homemade wreath is a perfect ‘welcome home’ hanging for your front door and a great centrepiece for a table.

All you need is a base, some twine and a little creativity. You can fashion your own wreath using an assortment of branches, greenery, flowers and nuts. Using herbs is also a good idea as they look and smell great fresh and once they have dried out. The best thing is that once you have the base, you can vary the decorations seasonally to keep things interesting.

You’ll Need:
A wreath base (available online or from your local florist or garden centre)
Twine
Hardy herbs like rosemary, homegrown or foraged branches, native flowers and nuts

How to

Start by deciding if you want the main feature of the wreath to be at the bottom or perhaps the side. You can, if you choose, decorate the entire round, but personally I think leaving some space makes for a more interesting wreath and I like to position my main feature at the bottom of the wreath.

Always save your hero piece until the end to make sure it’s prominent.

Working from the inside out, arrange your chosen leaves and branches around the wreath, securing them with the twine. Finish with your ‘hero’ piece to complete it.

Use as many aromatic branches and hard herbs as you can to make the wreath smell as beautiful as it looks.

This is an edited extract from The Art of the Natural Home by Rebecca Sullivan, Published by Kyle Books, $39.99 and is available in all good bookstores nationally.

Photography By Nassima Rothacker