Put a ring on it: Make your own Christmas wreath

A wonderful way to add an extra-welcoming touch to your home during the festive season is to create a wreath of fresh and seasonal foliage, berries and cones. Evergreens have been used as a decorative way to add cheer to dark winter days for hundreds of years – the Christmas wreath is merely an embellished and refined version of the much simpler bunch of foliage that would have hung from many a door. It was not until the Victorian era, when there was a fascination for all things Roman and classical, that wreaths of foliage and flowers came to be associated with the Christmas tradition – a trend that continues to this day.

You will need:

- Wire wreath frame (available from your local florist or craft supplier, or improvise by bending wire coat hangers into a rough circle shape)

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

- Florist stub wires (available from your local florist or craft supplier)

- Reel wire or garden twine (available from garden centres and florists)

- Damp sphagnum moss (available from garden centres and florists)

- Secateurs or garden scissors

- Pine branches – 4-6 stems, depending on size

- Assorted stems of evergreen and hardy winter foliage: holly (with berries if possible), berried elaeagnus, trailing ivy, mixed viburnums, eucalyptus, cypresses or juniper – 6-8 stems, depending on size

- A mixture of embellishments: from natural dried-fruit slices, pine cones and bundles of cinnamon to sparkling baubles, faux flowers or glittery butterflies, this is where you really make your wreath your own

- Ribbon of your choice, be it a traditional silk satin or a more contemporary grosgrain Petersham

If you live in or near London and fancy a fun (early!) excursion, the New Covent Garden Flower Market in Vauxhall has a wealth of festive floral fabulousness. You will find all you need and so much more – and a great bacon sarnie, too!

STEP ONE

Tease the moss to remove any lumps of earth, roots or twigs. Secure one end of the reel wire (or garden twine) to the wire frame and use it to bind handfuls of moss onto the frame. Position the next fistful of moss up against the first, bind, and continue until the entire frame is covered.

STEP TWO

Snip the pine branches into smaller sprigs no larger than your hand. Lay a piece of pine on the moss and use the reel wire to bind it into position. Working clockwise, add further pieces of pine, with the tip of each sprig concealing the cut end of the previous piece. Continue until the mossed frame is completely covered.

STEP THREE

Using florist stub wires formed into giant "hairpins", secure the assorted stems of winter evergreens among the pine base. Try to ensure that the foliage all appears to "travel" in the same direction. The ends of the wires will protrude through the back of the mossed frame – bend the ends back onto themselves to ensure the foliage is held securely in place, and the sharp ends of the wires are concealed.

STEP FOUR

Now the fun can really start, as your imagination is the only limit here. Decorate your wreath with any number of adornments, from pine cones and clusters of nuts (such as shiny chestnuts and glossy walnuts) to bright baubles and stems of artificial berries in bright colours. Raid the Christmas-decorations box for any odd baubles that have lost their hanger and use a stub wire to secure them in place, along with sparkling fake flowers and anything else that takes your festive fancy.

STEP FIVE

As a finishing touch, secure a ribbon bow to the wreath with a florist stub wire and create a loop at the back for hanging. To display your wreath on a wooden door with no handy knocker, fasten a double length of ribbon into the very top of the open door using drawing pins. Then suspend the wreath from the lengths of ribbon, tying it at the desired height.

For those of you with a steel or UPVC door, you will have to make two wreaths. Place your ribbon over the top of the doorframe, with a wreath tied to either side – they will act as counterbalances, without marking the door

SIMON LYCETT is known for his spectacular floral displays and horticultural expertise, and is the florist of choice for many high-profile royal and celebrity events. Most recently seen co-presenting the BBC2 documentary "The World's Biggest Flower Market", Simon regularly travels the world creating sensational designs for every type of event and is a tireless ambassador for British flowers; simonlycett.co.uk