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Making A Spring Wreath
A friend recently pointed out to me that the evergreen spray I≠d put on the front door back in December looked pitiful. It did. Funny how I can not notice the obvious. I decided that the time had come to put something else on the front door, something that shouted, “Spring and summer are on the way.”
I like making wreaths. A spring wreath using pussywillows, red-twigged dogwood and alder branches seemed like a good idea, so I headed off to find twigs alongside the road. All three plants are native to New England, and plentiful in wet areas.
Pussywillows (Salix alba, S. caprea or S. discolor) are weedy little trees or big shrubs whose major virtue is that their male catkins are furry fellows that perk up an otherwise drab time of year. And pussywillows are tough. They will grow in water-logged soil that would be fatal to the root systems of most other trees or shrubs. On the other hand, they are weak wooded and often scraggly. But at this time of year they are in their glory.
Elsewhere along a roadside I’d noticed the brilliant red stems of redosier dogwood (Cornus sericea). The redosier dogwood is a native shrub that, like pussywillows, does well in wet locations. Tatarian dogwood (C. alba) is a landscape plant that is sold for its red twigs, too. New growth on either is brilliant red, particularly in winter. Second year growth turns gray, with just a hint of red.
Anyone who grows red twigged dogwoods needs to prune them severely each year to keep them from looking drab. The town road crew had done a good pruning job- early last summer their brush hogs had cut plenty of red-twigged dogwood right to the ground. The stems were bright red- and free for the cutting. A healthy dogwood can grow 2-3 feet in a single season.
I have generally considered black alder (Alnus glutinosa) a nuisance plant that fills in and takes over around my stream. In researching this article I learned that they do have a virtue: they are nitrogen-fixing plants, so they improve the soil. Alders have male and female flowers. The male flowers are typical catkins but the female flowers resemble cones. Last year’s seed producers are still visible and handsome.
Rather than using a wire form, I made a simple grapevine wreath that allowed me to squeeze twigs between the vines. This reduced the need to use wires to attach the twigs, though I did use some florists wire to help attach twigs in places. This very thin wire is green, and easily cut with scissors.
I went to the woods and cut a fifteen foot length of grapevine that was about as thick around as a pencil. It is important to use fresh, not dead, vines; the one I cut was a greenish white inside and flexible, so I knew it would work well. Grapevines are readily available and produce good food for our feathered friends, although they can choke out some trees if left to get huge.
To make the wreath I formed a vine circle about 16 inches in diameter by overlapping (or twisting) one half of the vine over the other half – the same way I start tying my shoelaces. Then grasping one of the loose ends I wove it around the vine circle in tight loops. When I ran out of vine I tucked the end into the circle and repeated the maneuver with the other end of the vine. When done the grapevine wreathe was about an inch and an a half thick and 18 inches in diameter.
Next I cut some pussywillow twigs 12 to 18 inches long and tucked them into the wreath one at a time, forcing them into the crevices between the vines. Sometimes it was tough to force a twig into the wreath as the bent vines make an almost impenetrable barrier in places. I used a screwdriver to pry the vines apart to make room for twigs if needed. The pussywillow twigs followed the contour of the wreath, but extended out beyond it.
Spring Wreath
Then I took redosier dogwood and alder twigs and tucked them into the wreath, again spreading the grapevines apart and letting the natural tension hold them in place. I cut them a bit longer so that they stuck out further from the grapevine portion of the wreath. I selected alder twigs that had the cones and catkins.
When completed the wreath was about 36 inches in diameter, and had a distinctly porcupine-like appearance. I ended up putting it on the wall near the front door, as it shows up better there than on the natural wood colored door.
Spring has been slow to arrive this year, and I’m more than ready for its arrival. Making a spring wreath has helped a little.