When the nights get longer, and the children start whispering about sugar plums, one often feels a craving for the nostalgic scents of home. Before you make a shopping list for your Christmas baking this year, consider picking up some additional herbs for your very own Christmas Herb Living Wreath. I love cooking with fresh herbs, I keep potted herbs on the steps heading into our home, and I always have volunteers to pick fresh herbs for dinner, so they will be thrilled to help plant a Living Herb Wreath. This is an easy project suitable for all ages and ability levels.
Gather the Supplies for your Living Wreath
We chose several herbs and a selection of greenery for our wreath to complement the Christmas season. In a month or two we will begin to pull the greenery from our Living Wreaths and replace it with other herbs and seasonal florals. A portion of our wreath will always be “seasonal visitors,” and the other portion will be planted herbs that we will grow and maintain. To begin our wreath we chose to propagate Sage, and Rosemary. Thyme is our one visitor herb, and we added three types of evergreens: White Pine, Juniper, and Cedar. Here are some other things you will need for your wreath
Take a look at the supplies list to the left. Here is a detailed list of the supplies you may need for this project.
- Shallow dish or tub to fully submerge your wreath. We used a roasting pan.
- Waterproof Gloves, I took my gloves off when handling my greenery but if you have sensitive skin, you may want to keep those on. You will definitely need them when preparing the wreath.
- Water and Water-Soluble Fertilizer. We chose Bonide Root and Grow, this product is safe to use for vegetables and herbs.
- A Dibble, Pencil, or Chopstick. Basically, you will need something to poke into the wreath to make room for your stems or planting.
- Fern Pins, Hair Pins, or Floral Wire to secure plants.
- Plastic Saucer to fit the wreath. You will often find these in the houseplant section.
- Newspaper if needed.
- Here are some extra items that we included specifically for this wreath: Oranges, Hens and Chicks, and scissors to cut the Living Moss Package, and we also used Wire Cutters for the floral Wire. We also used a sheet pan and oven to dry our oranges.
Preparing Your Living Wreath
There is a wonderful tutorial on How to Prepare your Living Wreath. Make sure to fully read the instructions on the back of the wreath and take a look at the tutorial. Here is a quick rundown.
1. Prepare a water bath with fertilizer for your wreath.
2. Wearing gloves submerge the entire wreath in a shallow bucket of diluted solution of water-soluble houseplant fertilizer and water (we used Bonide which also contains a root growth hormone). Work the wreath all the way around by gently squeezing the mesh encasing to ensure the wreath is completely saturated. Remember sphagnum moss acts like a sponge.
3. When finished, allow the wreath to drip off excess water being careful not to squeeze or wring out the wreath. Then place it on some discarded newspaper if you need to protect your working surface. We were working on a countertop and did not need an extra newspaper.
Add your Base Greenery to the Christmas Herb Living Wreath
We started by arranging our greenery first. Make sure to strip the needles from the pine branches so you can insert 1-2 inches of the branch into the wreath.
Now use your dibble, or in our case both a pencil and a chopstick to make a hole through the mesh of the wreath. This allows the greenery to lay correctly and prevents the stems from breaking.
Arrange Your Herbs
Prepare your favorite herbs to add to your Christmas Herb Living Wreath, again using the dibble, pencil, or chopstick.
Make sure to research the correct propagation methods or planting suggestions for each herb you plant. Each method may have a different success rate so it’s ok to add and subtract to your wreath as you go.
When finished adding your herbs, make sure to identify any holes in your greenery and fill them as desired.
Arrange the Embellishments on your Wreath
We have a few additional items on our herb wreath. The Hens and Chicks will grow through the spring, and we plan to add more as we start to pull greenery. Other items like our dried oranges and bundles of cinnamon are absolutely seasonal. We will save the cinnamon sticks for next year too.
When planting the Hens and Chicks make sure to understand the root system. Fortunately, these plants do not need to maintain a robust root system to thrive. We removed a few of the roots and snaked the main root under the mesh of our wreath. We also pinned the roots down with floral wire to keep them in place.
To secure the dried oranges and cinnamon to the wreath we used floral wire to wrap around the oranges and we inserted two ends of the floral wreath through the center of the oranges and into the wreath.
Share Your Christmas Herb Living Wreath
You are finished. There are many ways to display your wreath. If you choose to hang your wreath make sure to attach plastic sheeting to the back. Also know that the water may begin to drip. We recommend that if you choose to hang your wreath that you keep it’s watering needs in mind.
This wreath makes a wonderful table scape. Use a plastic dish that you can found in any floral department to protect your wreath and the surface it lays on.
Make sure to keep your wreath fresh by spritzing with water once a week and occasionally adding fertilizer to the water.
Find More Gardening Projects:
Find More Gardening Projects:
How to Make a
Herb Wreath
Living wreaths are easy to make when using Mosser Lee’s Long-Fibered Sphagnum Mossed Wreaths frame. Mosser Lee wreaths are ready to plant, are not messy and don’t require soil.
How to Plant Nursery Stock
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Planting a terrarium is ideal for gardening indoors where space is limited for potted houseplants. Terrarium gardens also are great for those who would like to try their hand at first time gardening.
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