The tradition of decorating our homes with greenery at Christmas comes from the winter solstice celebrations of yore. To encourage spring to return, after the shortest day, foliage was brought indoors to symbolise perseverance through the winter and hope for brighter days to come.
Making a garland for your mantelpiece or one to wind around a staircase uses the same techniques as a wreath – bunching greenery together and wiring it tightly. This will also look stunning as a Christmas centrepiece along the middle of your dining table.
You will need:
- Bountiful greenery - fir or pine stems, viburnum, other evergreens from the garden and trailing ivy.
- Eucalyptus stems
- Garden twine
- Florist’s wire
- Secateurs
1. Measure your mantel
With garden twine, measure your mantel and factor in an overhang - six or so inches at either end. If you're planning a deeper swag, leave more at either end. Once you’ve measured it, double it up and tie a knot in the string every few inches. Taking one end, wire florist’s wire around the first knot, leaving the other end attached to the reel.
2. Choose your greenery
Gather silvery fronds of eucalyptus and forage for fir or pine stems and trailing ivy. Offcuts from the Christmas tree are ideal. Gather long-stemmed rosemary and other evergreens from the garden. You’ll need more than you think – be generous with your bunching.
3. Cut your stems to length.
Take a small number of stems – six so – arrange and wire tightly together, adding some trailing ivy as this will be the end of the garland. Wire securely onto the first knot.
4. Keep bunching
Wind florist’s wire tightly around the second knot. Keep creating bunches of greenery with different textures, and wire them on to the next knot in the string, making sure the stems are covered. Work along the string in the same way, until the mid-way point, building up your garland with lots of texture and variety.
5. Turn around
Once you get half way along the string, start layering your bunches the other way around. Continue on to the end of the string, remembering to save some longer stems and trailing ivy for the overhang.
6. Go back to the middle
There will be a gap in the middle of your garland, where your bunches of foliage turn in opposing directions. Cut some stems shorter, and poke them into the gap. Add ivy leaves to mask the join.
7. Finish
Cut short sprigs of holly and mistletoe and poke into the greenery along your garland to add fullness and interest.
You can add flowers too – roses, or in-season hellebores, though place these at the last minute as they won’t last long, or place stems in little sealed tubes of water (you can source these from florists). Or try faux blooms - there are lots in our gift shop.
Wire together pine cones in odd numbers, and cinnamon sticks, and push these between the bunches of greenery.
Glass baubles can look pretty too, along with dried oranges and ribbon for a more traditional look. Finally, wind in some delicate string lights for sparkle.
8. Hang your garland. Either drape along a mantel or, if you're planning to use it on a staircase, lay it gently on to the handrail and secure with garden twine, making sure the string is hidden by the foliage. If you want to keep the handrail free, you can tie it it on to the spindles in the same way, adding more foliage to fill any gaps.
