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Wreath History | How to Make a Wreath | Tools, Supplies of the Wreath Trade | Making a Scented Wreath Base | Christmas Wreaths To Purchase | Wreath Making Craft Books | Wreaths to buy Year Round | Wreath making Tips | Nature Wreath Bases | Nature & your Wreath | Make a Pinecone Wreath | Spice Combinations | Spices To Buy | Flowers & Woods to Purchase | Dried Herbs to Buy | Essential Oils |

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Nature & Your Wreath

The largest store available for products to be used in making a wreath is Mother Nature's store. Whether it be items from your garden, along the road side, creek, marsh or out in the forest, there are an unthinkable amount of products obtainable. Most of these are free for the taking, especially from your garden.

If you are planning a trip to the woods to find such items as pinecones, wood and other foliage you need to be considerate of your surroundings and the property of others.

Choose pinecones that are on the ground. Don't be afraid to pick ones that are completely closed as a well as those that are old and dried out. Look for deadfall - trees that have been blown over or have died naturally and are no longer producing greenery. These type of trees are a wonderful resource for small twigs and branches as well as pieces of bark, moss, lichen and cones.

Note: If you come across a pyramid of pinecones on the ground, please leave be. This is a carefully constructed pile the squirrels have built for the winter food supply. When they build a large pyramid it means there will be deep snow.

Foliage that has died and gone to seed will give some very unique and interesting looks to a wreath. Weeds are the best source of supply. Plants such as milkweed have spectacular heads when they go to seed. Wild thistle is another plant that looks wonderful in a wreath. Mushrooms, toadstools and puffballs, when dried will add character.

Get permission from local farmers to pick grain stocks that may be growing along the side of the road adjacent to their fields. Wild oats, barley and wheat offer a country flair to your project as well as giving it balance by adding height or length.

Even small colored pebbles found at the beach when included with sea shells will be a memory wreath of your holiday at the seaside.

The nice thing about natural items, is being able to leave them in the state in which you found them or spray paint them to the color you want.

Plan your garden to include plants you can use in your wreath making. Baby's Breath, Statice and Heather make tremendous filler as well as adding lacey look. For that matter, any flowers from your garden will work. If you are using a wet wreath, the blooms can be included while fresh from cutting. Either air drying or preserving as suggested in Preserving Flowers will keep blooms such as Roses, Bachelor Buttons, Marigold and Zinnias available to use on wreaths long after their natural season has finished.

Your herb garden is another source of materials for your wreath. Yarrow, Goldenrod, Feverfew, Bee Balm and Lavender to name a few, will fit into many themes adding more color and scent. Don't forget cinnamon sticks.

If you live in an environment with minimal space for a garden, consider a window box, container garden or deck garden to produce the materials you will be including in your wreaths. Many herbs can be grown indoors during the winter months and remember not to rule out your indoor plants.

If you choose not to use natural items for your wreath, you will still be able to make some spectacular wreaths and centerpieces. Silk flowers and foliage, plastic fruits and vegetables can be just as rewarding. It is important, however, to use good quality items as this will reflect in the finished wreath.

Most of these items mentioned here are available in a craft, garden, health food or flower shops. For your convenience, we have provided you with a selection of materials to get you started.

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Grapevine Wreaths Grapevine wreaths come in all shapes and sizes.

Straw Wreaths Say a big country welcome with this 12 straw wreath. Ready to decorate.

Cornflowers Whole Select 1 lb. The beautiful dried flowers show antibacterial activity in the laboratory, but not much else has been demonstrated to support their traditional medicinal uses. Their usefulness as an eyewash, then, is scientifically, and their beauty in potpourri is undeniable. Maude Grieve's classic 'A Modern Herbal': The flowers are the part used in modern herbal medicine and are considered to have tonic, stimulant and emmenagogue properties, with action similar to that of Blessed Thistle. A water distilled from Cornflower petals was formerly in repute as a remedy for weak eyes. The famous French eyewash, 'Eau de Casselunettes,' used to be made from them. The expressed juice of the petals makes a good blue ink; if expressed and mixed with alum-water, it may be used in water-colour drawing. It dyes linen a beautiful blue, but the colour is not permanent. The dried petals are used by perfumers for giving colour to pot-pourri.

Lavender Flowers Whole Select 1 lb. This beautiful herb has many uses, culinary, cosmetic and medicinal. It is used as an infusion, decoction and bath additive. It is an effective herb for headaches, especially when they are related to stress. The German Commission E approved the internal use of lavender for restlessness or insomnia and nervous stomach irritations. The German Standard License for lavender tea lists it for restlessness, sleeplessness, lack of appetite, nervous irritable stomach, meteorism, and nervous disorders of the intestines. The volatile or essential oil of lavender contains many medicinal components, including perillyl alcohol, linalool, and geraniol. The oil is calming and thus can be helpful in some cases of insomnia. One study of elderly persons with sleeping troubles found that inhaling lavender oil was as effective as tranquilizers. A lavender bath before bedtime is soothing to rheumatism and sleeep-inducing. Grieve's classic 'A Modern Herbal': Lavender was used in earlier days as a condiment and for flavouring dishes 'to comfort the stomach.' Gerard speaks of Conserves of Lavender being served at table. It has aromatic, carminative and nervine properties. Though largely used in perfumery, it is now not much employed internally, except as a flavouring agent, occurring occasionally in pharmacy to cover disagreeable odours in ointments and other compounds. A tea brewed from Lavender tops, made in moderate strength, is excellent to relieve headache from fatigue and exhaustion, giving the same relief as the application of Lavender water to the temples.

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Quick Jump to our Wreath & Related Articles

Wreath History | How to Make a Wreath | Tools, Supplies of the Wreath Trade | Making a Scented Wreath Base | Christmas Wreaths To Purchase | Wreath Making Craft Books | Wreaths to buy Year Round | Wreath making Tips | Wreath Nature Bases | Nature & your Wreath | Make a Pinecone Wreath | Spice Combinations | Spices To Buy | Flowers & Woods to Purchase | Dried Herbs to Buy | Essential Oils |

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