Most instructions tell you to start with a base that you have to buy, but I never do. Just find yourself a good selection of reasonably bendy twiggy branches, things like willow, hazel, and more or less any wood produced during the last summer will be flexible enough to use. You will need a selection of sticks something like this
plus a roll of wire available from any garden centre, this on is sold as "Garden Wire Light Weight", and is the cheapest and is ideal.
and of course you will be armed with your trusty
Start by binding together your bare branches by winding the wire round and round, making a long "rope" of
Use plenty of wire for your first attempt as it will make life easier. When your twig rope is long enough bend it round into a rough circle shape
and secure with your wire.
Snip off any protruding ends where the wood is too hard to bend and then push in your branches of leylandii, holly, ivy or any other green stuff you can find, and wind on more wire to secure. Just keep going round and round with the wire and greenery until you're happy with the look. Something like this
I had a bit of trouble finding any red berries in my garden just now, since the birds have cleared up all the available supply, so I will probably get something in red plastic from the decorations box to finish the job, or I might just wire up a few cranberries for the finishing touch.
Fa-la-la-la-la Fa-la-la-laah!
Lovely! So much prettier than some artificial plastic thing!
ReplyDeleteWow - this looks so pretty!
ReplyDeleteThanks guys, glad you like it!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea and wonderful photos so I can follow along easily. I'm going to try this out and since I don't have any vines except ivy I'll try to wind some small pine branches around.
ReplyDeleteThat looks great! :D
ReplyDeleteIvy works fine Callie, if you have any of the variegated sort even better.
ReplyDeleteThanks SJM, glad you like!
ReplyDeleteLeylandii is an evergreen hedge with thick foliage that can filter out up to 30% of atmospheric pollution. Anytime during the month of May is a best time for pruning a Leylandii hedge. Great Idea!
ReplyDelete