Cambridge Flower Company demonstrates how to make a handmade, traditional festive wreath
What you need
• 1 wire frame 
• Sphagnum moss (if you don’t have this readily available in your garden, you can pick it up at a garden centre)
• Reel wire
• Floristry cut wires
• Evergreen foliage (for example, holly, pine, viburnum, ivy)
• For decoration: pine cones, berries, orange slices, baubles, ribbons, feathers, nuts – in fact, anything you want to use! You can add colour by spray painting in gold or silver, or try using something like eucalyptus or cinnamon sticks which will provide a lovely scent. Glitter always adds sparkle.
How to do it 
1. Tie your reel wire on the side of the wire frame (do not cut the wire).
2. Loosen your moss by pulling apart. This aerates it too, but watch out for any little bugs which may be hiding inside!
3. Take a large handful of moss and mould into a tight ball.
4. Place the moss on the wire frame and bind on with the reel wire.
5. Repeat this process until the frame is covered in moss, then trim as desired to tidy it up.
6. Cut the wire and tie the end around the frame.
7. Take short bundles of foliage and bind onto the frame, overlapping the bundles until the frame is completely covered in foliage.
8. Using the cut wire, bind the wire around each item you want to add into the wreath. For example, with a pine cone, bind around the fat end of the pine cone so you have a length of wire left to poke into the moss.
9. Add all your decorations.
10. Tie a ribbon around the wreath to hang from your door. If you want a large bow you will need about 75cm of wide ribbon.
11. Finally… hang on your front door to welcome all your guests for Christmas!
These wreaths are designed to be hung outside – and will last longest this way. If you want to use fresh flowers, or if anything starts to look tired you can simply remove it and replace it with something new over the course of the season. You can even freeze the moss ring until next year, adding in new foliage and decorations when the time comes next winter.
The Cambridge Flower Company has a selection of materials including moss, wire frames and wires to get you started on your home-made wreath. It’s open Tuesday to Saturday (and Mondays during December).
Visit the Cambridge Flower Company at 11 Church Street, Haslingfield, Cambridge CB23 1JE. Tel 01223 873139 and email [email protected].
www.cambridgeflowercompany.co.uk
Cambridge Flower School, the teaching branch of Cambridge Flower Company located in Newton, is offering a range of festive workshops including wreath making, gift making and creating a floral centrepiece for the festive table. Check the website for more details and pricing.
www.thecambridgeflowerschool.co.uk
