As a child I’d sit on a boulder by the creek with my dad, push a fat worm onto a hook, and fish for trout for breakfast. I snipped wild chives from the bottom of the back stairs for omelets, I hung from vines until they fell and made wreathes, I painted using crush berries and grass as my ink, and proclaimed myself the wild raspberry queen, battling the birds every late July so I would have enough fruit to make jam. I learned math by knitting.
Since the holidays are upon us, there is never a better time than to do some of that wreath making that I loved growing up, using bits you can easily find in nature.
How to Make a DIY Wreath from Nature:
Here is the video version:
Here is the step-by-step in photos:
To gather the key ingredient for this project, hang from the vines in the woods until they drop, or use your clippers and go in search of the thinner kind. Types of vines that are good for wreath making include wisteria, honeysuckle, and grape, but a walk in the woods will no doubt reveal others. This is a free way to decorate your home year-round.
You’ll want vines, about a 10-foot length, depending on the size, but smaller lengths will work too if you wind them together.
Take a single piece of vine and wrap the ends together to form a circle. I recommend using a piece that is at least 4-feet long to start.
Use another piece of vine and wrap it around the frame.
Repeat this with vines until you have a thick frame, tucking in any ends as you go, and building on any areas that are thinner than others.
Then take a walk in nature and see what kinds of decorations you can find. What is available will vary depending on the season, which is great because you can change out the materials and colors using the same vine base. 
Dried flowers, berries and willows are easy to find. Rose hips are some of my favorite.
Spruce and pine, and holly all look wonderful. Tuck them between the vines to decorate the wreath. Bonus if you can find feathers on your nature walk.
Then go ahead and hang it! Or give it as a gift, someone will love it. I know my grandmother did.
2 Comments
Philip Collier
wisteria do make excellent wreaths. I have made 5 or 6 of them over the years if I have enough from trimming each year. Unfortunately if you let them grow too long they get thick and brittle. And if you have the vines teased into a tree it is very hard to trim them on time (hence only making the 5 or 6 wreaths.) This first one I made I didnt have a clue on how to do it and kinda halfheartedly started wrapping them, not knowing I was going to make a wreath. It came out perfect. Thats how easy it is.
gretna hopkins
loved your wreath very helpful .the limbs i have look more like rope but i stuck them in a bucket hoping they will form a circle