How to make a floral Christmas wreath

Give guests a festive greeting with a fresh flower Christmas wreath hung on your front door

Making your own floral Christmas wreath is easy with our step-by-step photo guide. Forage around your garden for foliage and berries to keep costs down. Or replace the roses with flowers growing in your garden to save a trip to the florist. How about adding pinecones to create your homemade Christmas wreath.

For a longer lasting arrangement, swap the florals for these paper flowers instead.

While you're wreath-making, give the kids some extra pinecones to create their own Christmas tree decorations.

To make a floral Christmas wreath you will need:

• Oasis wreath ring (31cm)
• Five large red roses
• Spray roses
• Spruce and pine
• Eucalyptus parvifolia
• Myrtle or pistache foliage
• Ivy or holly or ruscus
• Red berries
• Mini gold baubles
• Green florist’s wire
• Florist’s scissors
• Wire cutters
• Buckets
• Cut-flower food (Optional)
• Craft knife

For similar craft supplies, check out Wilko.

How to condition the flowers and foliage for your Christmas wreath:

Remove all the packaging and ties from the foliage and flowers, then snip away the bottom of the stems by about 5cm and remove any outer petals from the roses that are looking lacklustre. Next, fill the buckets with some water and a little cut-flower food if needed. Strip any leaves from the bottom half of the stems, so no foliage or flowers sit in the water. Then place the foliage and flowers in the water and leave to acclimatise. So long as the pine and spruce are kept cool and dry, you don’t need to put them into the water buckets.

How to make a floral Christmas wreath:

Step 1

Fill a large bucket with water and place the Oasis ring on top, allowing it to soak up the water for two minutes. Then remove from water and, using a craft knife, cut away the edge of the inner and outer ring. This will help soften the arrangement. If hanging the wreath, knot florist’s wire in a loop at the top.

Step 2

Begin with the spruce and pine cuttings. Snip them down to 15cm length pieces and remove any leaves from the bottom 5cm. Then push the pine and spruce into the foam, spacing them out so that there’s plenty of gaps in between each of the pieces.

Step 3

Working with small pieces of leafy foliage, like the eucalyptus, ivy or myrtle, fill the gaps in between the pine and spruce. Vary the size of the leaves to add some interest, making sure to cover the outer sides and inner ring, too.

Step 4

With five large roses, arrange where you’d like the big blooms to go by placing them evenly around the wreath. Once happy with the position, cut the stems right down to about 8cm and push into the foam.

Step 5

Cut the spray roses to a similar length and push clusters of one, two or three buds into the foam in between each of the larger roses. Make sure to use a mixture of fully bloomed and closed rose heads for variety.

Step 6

Arrange a mixture of large and small berries all the way round the wreath, keep the larger berries in the centre of the ring and dot the smaller berries around the edges to add colour to the foliage.

Step 7

Thread some florist’s wire through the hanging loops of the gold baubles and twist to secure. Position the baubles among the spray roses, pushing the wires into the Oasis foam to secure. Then attach the hanging wire to your front doorknocker or add a piece of ribbon to the top for a traditional look.