Yes, we know you can buy any number of wreaths at this time of year, but how much nicer to lose any fear about working with willow and learning how to make a gorgeous, festively-dressed willow Christmas wreath for your festive front door - all in ten easy steps. and at a fraction of the price of a shop-bought wreath.

Ingredients:

• Six stems of willow, if possible, longer than six feet long (the longer the willow, the bigger the wreath base can be. The brighter the willow, the more colourful the wreath base will be.)
• One willow whip for binding (thinner, more pliable)
• Three each of seven different ingredients foraged from your garden: these could be holly, ivy, pine, berries, clematis seed heads, anything of interest. They do not need to be especially long stemmed as they would if you were making a posy.
• Raffia or string to bind your garland

Note: at this time of year, florists often have willow stems or you can order them from Coates English Willow (the smallest bundle of 5kgs at a 7 foot length will be perfect).

To make:

One

First work your willow stems by bending gently up and down their length so that they can be pulled into a circle.  Spend a little time on this – it’s good upper body exercise for you, and feels like you’re also warming up the willow’s muscles for its big workout.  

The more you work the willow, the less likely it is to crack as you turn it into circles.

Two

Take the strongest and longest of your willow whips and bend it into a circle, clipping [explain] one end over the length of the willow as you pull it into a circular shape and then twisting the rest of the length of the whip round and round the circle until you have one nice round of willow.

Note!  The chances of your circle being perfectly circular at this stage are slim.  You are more likely to have an odd egg shape.  Don’t worry!  You have five more lengths of willow to work round your circle, and they will help pull it into a perfect round.

Three

Take your second willow whip and, sliding the cut end into the first circle about a third of the way round the circle from the end of the first piece you used to make your base, bind the willow round the circle until you have a two willow whip base.

Note! It’s worth having the cut ends of the willow facing the same way as you weave, and having them all come out the same side of the wreath.  This way the wreath will be tidier, stronger, a better circle, and when you’ve finished you’ll be able to cut all the spare ends off, turn the wreath over and, unlike your maths homework, you won’t be able to see your workings as they can be on the back of your wreath.

Four

Take the third of your willow whips, and holding the cut end equidistant between the long space between your first two cut ends, weave the whip round the circle.  You’ll see now that having three stems of willow woven from three carefully chosen spaces a third of the way round the wreath each will have balanced the tension in your circle nicely so that the wreath is now a good circle.

Five

Carry on wreathing (twisting the willow around the base whips) until you’ve used up all your willow, being careful to space your willow cut ends so that they help increase the tension to make the circle – don’t start them all from the same place!

Six

Take the shorter whip, and using it like a piece of rope, bind your wreath with it.  I find it easiest if I jab the cut end of this whip through a slim gap between stems in the woven wreath, pointing the cut end to the back of the wreath so that it won’t show (maths homework again!) I bind and bind and then on the back of the wreath I ‘sew’ the thin end of the whip through the bindings and pull them tight.  You can see how useful willow must have always been to people since it recolonised the British Isles at the end of the last ice age.  It is strong, pliable, reliable, AND the salicylic acid will stop your hands from hurting at the end of a long day of wreathing.  You can tell why the wise women of old would have made so much with it.

Excellent, now for the garland.

Seven

Take one of your twenty-one pieces of foraged garden bounty and tie one end of the raffia around the top end of it.  Then adding different ingredients in alternate order, bind them into a long string.  Be careful to tuck the raffia between leaves rather than round them as you go: this will hide your workings, but also allow the material you’re using to look full and luxurious.  Pull the raffia tight as you go along in order to make the garland reliably strong: you don’t want it sagging three days after your Christmas wreath is hung on your door!  If you find your piece of raffia is too short just tie another on to the first and carry on.

Eight

Once you’ve made a garland with all your twenty-one pieces of foraged treasure, attach the garland to your willow base.  ‘Sew’ the top end of the garland onto your willow wreath by poking the raffia through your willow base and tying it on tight.  This ‘sewing’ technique avoids yet more showing your workings.

Nine

Take another piece of raffia and ‘sew’ it through the willow wreath about halfway round the wreath, then threading it round the garland to tie that part on tight.

Ten

Where your garland came to an end and you have the original raffia end there, use that raffia to tie the garland onto the wreath by poking the raffia through the willow so that it can be tied on tight but only you’ll know how.

And there you have it!

You might like to thread some ribbon through the wreath to hang it by.  Personally, I like a heavy hook and just hang the wreath on the hook with no other attachments.

And there you have the ultimate willow Christmas wreath for 2022: hand-made, 100% biodegradable, no plastic, no wire, and cost-of-living-crisis friendly.

You can subscribe to Georgie’s online YouTube videos for free but if you would like to enjoy the full willow-wreathing experience with Georgie, you can download her online lesson for a small fee at www.commonfarmflowers.com

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And if you just want to have a lovely wander down a Flower Farmer rabbit hole, check out how Georgie decorates her home for Christmas:

I have very strong opinions about Christmas tree decorations. Very strong. You do not want a tree that looks straight out of Harrods Food Hall. You want a tree that is a joyous collection of family memorabilia.

And, just in case you’re seeking inspiration for Christmas from proper artisanal suppliers, not just clicking on Amazon, then Georgie has some truly brilliant ideas on this cheery little video!

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Don't forget to follow Georgie on Twitter and let us know #whatsinyourwreath in the comments below.

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