Summer Floral Ideas: Fresh Hydrangea Wreath
Published July 20, 2012
Wreaths are not just for the Holiday Season. In the summer time hydrangea bushes are in full bloom and at their finest. Why not show off these beauties on your front door or patio area in a beautiful, fresh wreath.
These wreaths take only a short time to assemble and will last for weeks outside. Freshen them up from time to time with some water to keep them at their best.
Materials
- 1 grapevine wreath form (14” to 16” diameter) available at craft stores or florists
- 40 stems of salal (if you do not have them in your garden, you may purchase bunches at a florist)
- 22 guage, green floral wire
- glue and glue gun
- floral tubes (optional)(available at florist shops)
- fresh roses or other garden flowers(optional)
- scissors and/or garden shears
- raffia and Spanish moss
To make your hydrangea heads and roses last longer, you may want to use floral tubes filled with water. The water will allow the flower to stay fresh longer. If not, your fresh hydrangeas will probably last 1 week outside without water. In some cases, the hydrangea and rose heads will dry on their own and may last up to 6 months in the dry state.
If you don’t have access to fresh hydrangeas , you may have a wonderful neighbour who would be delighted to share their hydrangeas with you for your wreath.
To make a hanger for the wreath, loop an eight-inch piece of wire to the grapevine base. Hang the wreath on a nail where you can easily work on it.
Cut pieces of salal into six, eight-inch pieces. If the salal is wet, make sure you completely dry the ends off before placing them in the wreath.
Begin inserting the pieces of salal into the wreath form. It’s best to start at one spot and work in one direction. Continue filling up the wreath until it is thick and completely covered, leaving no empty spaces.
With a sharp pair of scissors, snip the ends of the hydrangea heads leaving a 3-4-inch stem. Insert the stem into a water-filled floral tube and place the hydrangea into the wreath. Carefully insert the tube between the grapevines until it is nice and snug. Repeat with the remaining hygrangea heads in a random pattern.
Place your roses in the floral tubes and insert them into the wreath as well.
Fill in any gaps with the Spanish moss and pieces of raffia.
The wonderful thing about these wreaths is everything in them (including the salal) will go from fresh to dry and still look wonderful six months from now.
