The Bad Hair Lavender Wreath

Today I knew I had to do it. I had to cut back my lavender.

It was difficult to do--I have had indifferent luck with lavender over the years and now I finally have a few strong, established plants. I have never cut them back, afraid that by doing so I'd jinx them and they'd die over the winter. But this summer it was apparent that they desperately needed a pruning. An herbal website recommended cutting them back now, before winter sets in, to give them the dormant season to develop good roots and be ready to take off in the spring.

So I steeled myself, found the clippers and went to work. The plants do look better. But on the ground was all this heavenly smelling lavender--it's not just the flowers that smell good, as most of you know.Could I just leave it there to slowly wither away? Of course not, or at least not all of it.

I grabbed a handful and brought it inside to put in water in a brown crock. Ah, the kitchen smells wonderful now! The lavender combined with the smells of the chicken noodle soup I'm making makes me sigh with pleasure.

Then I hunted up an old grapevine wreath. It's been hanging out on the porch with nothing on it and nothing much to do so I put it to work. I shoved clippings into the twisted vine, creating a pretty wild effect. When I hung it on the porch I thought the wreath needed something more. Back into the house I went. I was thinking about using something seasonal--pumpkins, Indian, that kind of thing, but my eyes rested instead on two little rocks and my fairy.

This is what I ended up with:

It's certainly wild-looking. I kinda like it. How about you?

Make a Simple Applewood Wreath

When people think of making a wreath, they usually think of grapevine wreaths. Here is one my husband made about 10 years ago from the water sprouts on our apple tree. Water sprouts are the new branches that sprout along the trunk of the tree, and are usually pruned off because they affect the productivity of the tree.

BUT--they are also very flexible and can be easily woven into a wreath, as Larry did above. The method is the same as for making any wreath--simply twine the branches around each other in a circle until the wreath is the thickness and shape you want.

This wreath retained the red color of the sprouts nicely. Another one he made at the same time is also is great condition and still has a dark red tint. Both have hung inside, or on the porch over the years.

Applewood is considered to have magical properties in some folklore, and was used in Norse times to make wands, bows, etc. Celtic traditions holds that it can be used in fairy magic. My mother (an Englishwoman) said applewood symbolized fertility. I had the wreath over my bed at that point and thought best to move it! There is much apple lore and information here

and here and a whole book about it by Barrie E. Juniper (is that a real name?) called The Story of the Apple.

Make a Simple Twig Wreath

This is so easy.

I remember when I first saw a wreath like this. It was in a florist's window. I went in to check the price--I mean, how expensive can a bunch of twigs be? Very expensive, as I learned!

So I went home and cogitated a bit (I love that word, cogitated--it reminds me of my Dad) and came up with my own down-home version. My sons call my wreaths "bad-hair wreaths." Can't imagine where they get that idea.

(The lamp in the photo is one we found in the old log cabin before we moved it. Larry rewired it and I added a new shade)

The wreath in the picture is the first one I made, and it's not as full as some of the later versions. The best one I hung outside on the porch, and a robi pretty well ruined it with her nest last summer. But twigs are free and baby robins are cute, so I'll repair it this year for her.

Directions: use a grapevine wreath, either purchased or homemade, for the base. Cut twigs--I like the bridal spireas best because they have many fine, branching twigs, but experiment with what you have available.

Then simply tuck the twigs into the wreath. Mine held in place very well with no glue at all. Keep sticking in your twigs until your wreath is as full as you'd like it to be.

And that's all there is to it. The wreaths add a rustic touch to any space.