Leonard Moorehead, the Urban Gardener: Wreaths From the Garden

Sunday, December 17, 2017
Leonard Moorehead, GoLocalProv Gardening Expert

Celebrate the winter solstice garden style. Bright lights have their place, cheerful music too. Gardeners eyeball the winter night sky and low sun on the horizon. The circle of life is our realm. Longer days, shorter nights, a new garden year begins again. 

Honey, it’s cold outside, let’s go into the garden and fashion wreaths. Dress in layers wear hats and gloves. Leave cocoa on the counter, cookies too, we must keep our strength. Lift up your hearts. Wreaths are simple and easy to make. Imagination is the chief ingredient. Involve children and others, the circular wreath encloses all. 

Rummage around the potting shed. Old garden hoses kept for “just in case” are fine frameworks for wreaths. Scavenge wireframes, upcycle old picture frames, or weave vines into the just oh so perfect shape. Gardeners resort to grape arbors, trumpet vines, kiwis, and ivy for pliable basics. Cull overgrown vines from last summer’s apogee and make the winter nadir. From now on, we’re summer bound.

Why grow sage or hollies? Wreath making for sure! Gather wreath materials from borders and shrubbery. Don’t venture into scarce green spaces or neighbor’s yards without permission. Look no further than the garden. Select silver gray sage branches, festive red berried holly branches, use long grapevines from arbors, pull rampant kiwis from nearby fruit trees. Prune back now for future growth, our annual orbit of birth and renewal is in the garden.

Wreaths offer long life spans. Arbor vitae and box are common coniferous shrubs and trees. Arbor vitae foliage retains its green luster throughout frigid arctic gales. Each part of Arbor vitae is fragrant. Note the small pine cones among the waxy foliage. Or switch over to the native cedars reclaiming disturbed soils. Prune selectively, always distribute cutting over the entire shrub rather than one region. Blue juniper berries are welcome additions to indoor and outdoor herbal wreaths. Rose hips; especially, Rosa Ragusa, offer red color. Fresh or dried rose hips are rich in vitamin C, infused in hot water, rose hips are good for gardeners and companions. 

Hollies have the stamp of tradition. No winter garden is complete without a trio of hollies. Plant 2 female hollies and a male for cross-pollination. Consider neighbors, a male holly pollinates within a 100 feet radius regardless of fences. Hollies offer a wide range of foliage shapes and colors. Deep bluish green onwards to variegated white and green leaves are common cultivars. Select varieties with the winter garden in mind. Hollies anchor the garden and few are as charming when snow blankets the mulch.

Hollies tolerate a lot of pruning. Shape the small trees, allow for good air circulation around the base. Prune just above leaf buds. Lateral shoots will respond twice as heartily at each stem cut. 

Holly boughs are thirsty. Trim stems at an angle, strip away nearby foliage and keep in water. Renew water as needed, avoid drying out. Holly foliage will remain vibrant throughout the holiday season into the New Year. Red ribbons compliment holly, strung cranberries offer another traditional aspect to wreaths and hollies.

Good winter clothing opens the garden during the winter. Wear hats and gloves. Layers conserve body heat, allow plenty of room for movement, remove or add layers as needed. Properly dressed gardeners spend more time outdoors in the spaces they love so well, the garden. 

We are rarely alone in our gardens. Sparrows colonize rhododendrons and bamboo. Blue jays and chickadees offer constant comments. Woodpeckers groom our trees, each grub they consume is one less pest on the apricots, pears and peaches. Observe stems and trucks visible in winter. Broken branches are best removed. Melt wax over cut wood or wrap in duct tape. Cover wounds in tree bark, a patch will discourage pests and diseases from entering the plant’s system. 

Spray dormant oil mixtures onto fruit trees. Jump at the chance to spray oils on dry, wind free days. Mix the dormant oil mixture indoors and bring outside to spray warm. The oils will thicken on fruit tree bark. The oils will suffocate disease spores and insect eggs. Renew environmentally friendly oil sprays a couple times while fruit trees are dormant. An ounce of prevention now pays handsomely next growing season. 

Carry snippers in a pocket. Prune away water sprouts, open fruit trees for easy picking next summer. Cut back leggy or tall shoots. Fruit trees respond well to heavy pruning. Lusty regrowth fills in gaps with fruit bearing branches. Gather up pruned twigs and branches. Weave into long-lasting wreaths. 

It’s difficult to keep gardeners out of the garden. Harvest winter greenery and herbs. Weave natural elements onto found or home- made frames. Breath in crisp winter air, feel the winter’s sunlight. Give wreaths of any size or shape to others. We’re all enclosed in the circle of life. Look into any garden and find the wreath best for you. Be generous, life is. 

Leonard Moorehead is a life- long gardener. He practices organic-bio/dynamic gardening techniques in a side lot surrounded by city neighborhoods in Providence, RI. His adventures in composting, wood chips, manure, seaweed, hay and enormous amounts of leaves are minor distractions to the joy of cultivating the soil with flowers, herbs, vegetables, berries, and dwarf fruit tree. 

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