I would like to share with you one of my favorite things to make for holiday decorating. The Christmas Garland, made from fresh greens I gather myself. This is a little more time consuming. It involves gathering, trimming, wiring, and finally decorating. A labor of love for me.

I only make a few pieces of the natural garland for myself. I place it around the front door of my home, my mail box, and my lamp post. I use the fake stuff for everything else. Makes my decorating much easier. I'm just a tad bit lazy sometimes or too busy to fuss.


Here are a few pro's and con's for using fake garland:

Pro's

  • I can start my decorating earlier and not have to worry about it dying on me.
  • It is easier to add lights to.
  • It has metal in its branches to wrap the wires and decorations in place.


Con's

  • They don't smell good like the natural evergreens.
  • After a few years they need replacing because they tend to get out of shape from storage.
  • When used outside, the metal wires rust and break.

The greens I use are gathered from around my home. I live in a wooded area and it is easy to find. Most of the greens come from my yard. I don't let my husband trim my trees during the summer so I will have enough to make my garlands. I mainly use the cedar trees and my holly bush that are a part of my landscaping . My holly doesn't have many berries on it. Apparently you need to plant a male and female plant together in order for it to have berries. Luckily, I have nice neighbors. They let me cut theirs. The white pine I use is found in the woods near my home. I can go hike through the woods and cut it. Or, when I am in lazy mode, I go to Lowes and buy it. I also have juniper but it is very picky and I don't like to work with it.


When I have all my greens collected I begin trimming them. I like to cut each piece around the same length so my garland will look uniform when I begin to wire it together. I would say the branches are about 8 inches in length. It doesn't have to be perfect. I keep them in different piles so it is easy to pick up each piece as I add to the garland as I wire it.

Christmas Garland Supplies

Evergreens (Your choice. I chose cedar, white pine, and Holly.)

Lights

Ribbon

Pine cones

Berries (Either artificial or real)

Small red ornaments (Plastic, even though I hate plastic. They are better for outdoor use.)

Tools:

Spool wire

Wire cutters

Trimming shears

Scissors

Gardening gloves

Now that I am set up and organized, I am ready to begin. My first step is to pick up a nice full piece of cedar. I hold it in my hand, pretty side up (they all have pretty sides). I then wrap my wire around the end a few times. Next I add a piece of the white pine, wrap the wire around a few times. Next is a piece of holly. As you add each piece you will see that you can add more than one piece to each layer to make it fuller. As you go, you add each piece or layer, up a little further on the end and keep wrapping. You will gradually give it length doing this over and over again. It is important to wrap the wire around tight in order to hold it together. It gets very heavy, depending on how much you add. When you hang it up, the weight will stretch the wire and it will pull apart if you don't use enough.

The length you need depends on where you are hanging it. When I hang it around my door, I measure from the bottom of my door frame to the top and halfway over to the other side. I make two this size. When I have them made, I hang them from the center of my door frame over to each side. I have nails I hook this on. (My husband couldn't believe I could hammer 3" penny nails into the siding of my house. He thinks I am crazy.) Where it meets in the center I overlap it and wire it together. I then add a bow giving it a finished look. I use outdoor red velvet ribbon for this.

OK, with that said, I made a mistake this year. I made mine too short and I was way to lazy to take down my garlands from the house. So, in order to give it a finished look. I made a swag with the greens. I put a bow in the middle and added that over my door. You will see that in the pictures that follow.

The swag is made the same way you make the garland. You wire together the various greens and continue adding them until you reach the desired length. When you have both sides finished, you wire them together, end to end, and add the bow in the middle, where you wired it together.

Decorating your garland is the fun part. You can do this before you hang them up or after. Whatever is easier for you. I do it when it is hanging up so I can see exactly where I want the decorations. I start decorating my garlands with the lights. I wire them into place where needed. Next I add the berries, here and there, giving a natural look to it. I then wire in a few pine cones. Being lazy again, I bought the pine cones. I can find them almost any place in the woods. I like to buy them since they are dried and ready to go. I found them at KMart this time. My next step will be weaving the red velvet ribbon through it. After the ribbon I add some ornaments for a little bit of glitz.

To finish this presentation of my home, I add a wreath to my door. The wreath is an artificial one. I decorate it to match my garlands. Now it is done and ready to enjoy. You will get the hang of it as you go. It does get easier. It is truly something you can brag about. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment. I will be happy to respond to you with an email.

Happy decorating!

The following pictures show me wiring the garlands and different stages of assembly as described above.

Start with the CedarBegin to wireContinue adding the greensMoving them up a bit further as you addProgressing nicelyHang around doorSwag to fix short garlandsSwag hung over doorAdd the lightsAdd decorationsAdd ribbonAdd wreath to complete