Nandina domestica, AKA, Heavenly Bamboo, is one of our favorite plants.

A hardy, waterwise evergreen, Nandina grows in part to full sun, zones 5-10, offering year-round beauty, moderate growth, low maintenance, and deer resistance. I use Nandina leaves in flower arrangements, but I never clip its springtime blooms, because by autumn they develop into sturdy clusters of orange red berries — just in time to decorate our Thanksgiving tablescape.

I chose these Nandina berries as the main feature for a homemade wreath for our front doorscape –wreath number three in a series of twelve. The durable berry bunches coordinate with our house colors.  When clipped in November, they dry easily and last for years.  I left plenty of berries on our shrubs to decorate our landscape and feed a few visiting birds throughout the winter months.

Here’s how I did it.

First, I gathered my supplies.  I decided to use a wire wreath form and some dry Muhly grass as the base for the wreath. You could use any pliable dried straw or stems.  

Next I  cut and gathered the grass into small bundles and tied them together with wire; then I fastened the bundles onto my form, using straw colored raffia. I continued around the form until it was covered with grass and then I wound raffia around the wreath in various places, allowing lots of stragglers.  I was going for a the look of a casual wispy spiral.

Then, I poked our stiff berry stems into the straw and secured them with U-shaped pins that I made from florist wire and twisted at the back.

All that was left to do was to add a bow and hang it on the nail on our front door  — just in time for our Thanksgiving feast.

I love how it turned out and I love that I only spent an hour to make it with things from our garden.

Happy Thanksgiving !

 

 If you are interested in learning more about Nandina, click HERE and HERE.  For more great tutorials about making wreaths, click HERE amd HERE.

This post is linked with Fresh Eggs Daily’s Farm Girl Blog Fest 

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