The Whistling Gardener

by Steve Smith

Steve Smith is owner of Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville, located at 3915 Sunnyside Blvd., and a respected local expert on all things horticultural. You can reach Steve at 425-334-2002 or by e-mail at info@sunnysidenursery.net.

While the gardening season is never really over, I want to digress a bit this week and remind you that many garden centers in our area are starting to offer wreath-making for the holidays. This is a great opportunity to bring together friends and family in a festive atmosphere and build a yearly tradition of creating a one-of-a-kind wreath to adorn your front door from the bounty of the garden. It is easy to do and lots of fun.

We have been doing wreath-making here at Sunnyside for several years now. With the wreath machines and wire forms we use, it is so easy that you will amaze yourself with your creativity. These wreaths will look nothing like the cookie-cutter ones you see in the stores. With over 30 different types of evergreens to choose from and countless buckets of twigs, sticks, dried flower heads and seed pods, each wreath becomes a unique reflection of its creator.

I've seen wild and wooly ones with curly willow twigs shooting out like bottle rockets and fuzzy buds from the stag horn sumac nestled in amongst the greenery like sleeping elk. Conversely, some folks like to make their wreaths nice and tidy with perfect symmetry and clean and crisp edges with just a subtle accent of cones. You can tell a lot about a person by the type of wreath they make.

Garden centers offer various forms of wreath making. Some simply supply a wire form and access to a machine, and you bring in your own greens and accents from your yard or surrounding neighborhood. Others offer the whole enchilada with an extensive selection of greens and accents. And some provide a basic wreath that you can embellish and customize to suit your personality. Check around to find the center that suits you best. Expect to pay anywhere from $5-$10 for a ring and the use of the machine, up to $30-$50 for the full meal deal.

Garden centers typically bring in the basics, meaning fir, cedar and juniper, and then all the employees pitch in and bring stuff from their yards. Everything they offer is usually found locally within a few miles of the nursery. It is collected from ditches, vacant lots, people's yards, parking lots, railroad right-of-ways, parks and just about anywhere they can get permission to collect. A huge assortment of evergreens can be found such as pine, spruce, Cryptomeria, cedar, cypress, sequoia, yew, juniper and Thujopsis. Broadleaf evergreens like English holly, Japanese holly, Evergreen Huckleberry and Box leaf Honeysuckle also provide nice accents. Viburnum davidii with its blue berries is fun, too.

Sometimes garden centers will provide dried flowers and seed heads such as Siberian iris, statice, yarrow, hydrangeas, golden hops vine, Dock, native Spiraea, teasel and cat tails. Call first to see what they offer, and if they don't have these items, you can find most of them growing alongside the road.

In fact, once you start making wreaths you begin to look at the landscape in a whole new way. Suddenly what was a bloomed-out perennial ready for deadheading is a treasured prize for your next wreath. Even a noxious weed like Scotch Broom offers a unique texture to a holiday wreath, and I can guarantee that you will never see Scotch Broom in a store-bought wreath. Berries from Nandina, along with its feathery foliage, are also wonderful additions to a wreath. The possibilities are endless and that is what makes it all so much fun.

Making wreaths is a great way to reconnect with nature this time of year. It's a chance to re-purpose your plants and give them one more moment in the spotlight before they are relegated to the compost heap. It's an opportunity to spend some quality time with family and friends and build a tradition that will last for years.

You'll come away with much more than a decoration for your front door. You'll gain a better appreciation for the bounty of the northwest and create a memory to look forward to this time next year.



Steve Smith is owner of Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville and can be reached at 425-334-2002 or online at info@sunnysidenursery.net