Dressing the house for Christmas is a treat many of us look forward to and a small group of friends try to meet at the beginning of December to make a wreath for the front door. 
This a very satisfactory event: collection of greenery from the garden and local hedgerows, making of wreaths at someones kitchen table, a glass or cup of something, to wet ones whistle, accompanied by perhaps the first mince-pie of the season, Christmas tunes on the i-pod and most importantly the exchange of ideas and gossip. This year however I was unable to join my friends and instead had to do my wreath making all alone, Larry-like in the greenhouse. The wreaths shown here are made for the owner of a garden where I work
This year I decided to work on a silver theme and sprayed a bunch of stuff from the garden to include in the wreath. Holly leaves and berries came up a treat, the seed head skeletons of Alliums were taken out of the garage where they had hung since about June, and they too were given the silver treatment. This was an idea which I first saw Sarah Raven do and have copied it many times since.
I had also saved the seed heads of some Eryngium and had stored these in the workshop in a bucket. Now the workshop is not my domain, it is in fact a wonder that I am allowed in there at all as it houses all manner of machinery and tools and really is not the usual habitat for a gardener called Dorris. These prickly customers had been plonked in a bucket pending hanging to dry, the bucket was left on the floor minding its own business. In my absence Dave was in search of diesel or some such liquid, failed to spot the bucket tripped and to break his fall put out his hand into, yes you can guess, the bucket of thorny plants. Enraged the bucket was hurled out into the yard where I found it upon my return. Ouch that’s gotta hurt! Amazingly the seed heads remained in tact and these too got a touch of the silver spray.
Greenery I used to form the base of the ring was moss, topped with a layer of dark green yew leaves and this year for the first time I included sprigs of Rosemary from the garden. I really liked this as it gave a nice scent to the wreath and the very slight silver tone of the leaves worked with the sprayed decorative pieces. The other slightly smaller wreath this year was a variation on the above but with ivy entwined. 
Finished off with some silver ribbon the wreaths were hung on the doors ready to welcome visitors over the Christmas period.
Since preparing this note, I have read a number of other articles on this subject and I found a note by Jekka’s Herb Farm interesting so I am sharing it with you here.
digwithdorris.com 
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