How to Make Herb Wreaths

My dad bought me a book on wreathmaking many years ago. I loved looking at the beautiful pictures, but I knew I’d never make one. Back then, wreaths were symmetrical circles of beauty, and symmetry is not in my skillset. “Wonky” would be a better word to describe my style.

Fast forward to today and wonky things are being embraced in decorating styles now. My time has come!

So, armed with both sage and rosemary bushes that have grown a bit out of control, I decided to finally try my hand at wreathmaking.

HERB WREATH MATERIALS:

A wire ring for each wreath you make. I bought this set of three wire rings.
Wire. I found this wire at a home improvement store (while my husband looked at power tools).
Wire cutters or kitchen shears.
Garden shears.
Overgrown herbs.

HERB WREATH INSTRUCTIONS:

Sage Wreath:

I made a sage wreath first.

If you’d like a hanger for your wreath, fashion one on top of the hoop out of your wire (I have found that I can hang my wreaths without one). I should also note here that I am left-handed and tend to do everything backwards. But, whichever way makes sense to you, cut a stem of sage and wire it to your hoop. Place the wire on the thicker, woody stems and pass the wire underneath the leaves. That way your wire won’t show.

Once your first stem is wired on, add the next stem, tucking it under the leaves of the first one. Keep adding until you have gone around the entire circle.

With the sage, I found it easy to just keep a running wire going, making it unnecessary to cut the wire until the end.

Remember that sage will shrink as it dries, so pack the branches in tight.

Rosemary Wreath:

You will use the same basic materials as for the sage wreath.

Each time you wire rosemary on however, you will need a cluster of branches. You can accomplish this by making a “bouquet” of 4 or more stems, wiring it together and then wiring it onto the wreath form. I was lucky to have multi-tipped branches that I could just wire on without this extra step.

Again, you will wire your first cluster on and then keep adding clusters (overlapping as you go). The rosemary wreath was a bit more complicated to do, so I cut 4 – 6 inch pieces of wire and wired each stem (or bouquet of stems) on separately.

You will end up with a wonderfully wonky looking wreath, which I happen to love.

Add some birds or some other things from your garden, or both!

But, if wonky is not your thing, use your shears to trim the ends, making it more symmetrical.

Either way, it’s fun to forage and find items in your garden to make a wreath from. Now that I have the basics down, I plan to trim my fir and cedar trees at Christmastime to make more wreaths.

What will you use to make your wreath with?

Note: If you have sensitive skin you can wear gloves while crafting wreaths.