Making Holiday Wreaths with Native Plants

Greetings Watershed,

We hope y’all are all warm and well! Around the Nursery, we’re testing the waterproof claims of last year’s rain gear (with varying success 🙂 ), battening down the hatches of our more fair season structures, planning our staff holiday gathering, and enjoying the blur of our busy retail season! For our more festive minded staff, this time of year also invites opportunities for creative decor (made with California Native plants, of course!) 

We’ve put together a quick guide below to building a charming wreath of native plants below. This is a great activity for kids (or kids at heart!) to use any pruned stems or dried plant material in your garden, and celebrate the seasonal beauty of locally native plants. Best of all, using locally native plants means this decor can feed the birds on or off the tree, and then your compost pile when your holiday celebration ends. And, collecting from your garden or neighbors (with permission) minimizes the carbon footprint of your holiday decor!

For those folks less craft-inclined, we’ve got handmade elderberry syrup and soaps by Shakewell Herbalism, and gift certificates of course!

Seriously gorgeous greenery and fruit of the Toyon, Heteromeles arbutifolia, in the submission “Simply Festive” by Susan Westcott, an entry to the 2021 CNPS Wreath Masters

What’s our garden doing?

Around the nursery, our Redbud (Cercis occidentalis) is budding out, there’s a few stray early Ceanothus blooms prompted by the first rains, plenty of Oak acorns and leaves, fragrant arrays of Salvia, dry Yarrow stems, Quailbush’s sparkly silvery foliage, the lovely burnished Buckwheat seedheads, bright red Dogwood and Fragaria stems, and of course, the cheery Toyon berries! Of course, we’ve included some suggestions to plant for next year’s decor below.

Wreath Building with California Native Plants

1. Inspiration strikes! The California Native Plant Society’s Wreath Masters competitions of 2020 and 2021 are a great place to start for design inspiration for winter decor made from native plants. Of course, we’ve included some plant species suggestions below.
2. Start with your base–a standard wreath frame, wire bent into shape works well, or bendy green stems like willows and dogwoods can be used to shape a wreath form. Twine or cordage can be used to tie a unique shape (triangle, square, star–your creativity is your only limit)! 
3. Consider your palette–what’s growing in your garden? Take a wander, and use clean, sharp tools to collect a few branches from your established plants. For best plant health practices, harvest with clean, sharp tools, on a dry day, when rain isn’t expected for a few days. Only collect in areas where you have permission to do so. This is a great excuse to talk to your neighbors about harvesting a few stems from their garden (with permission), and perhaps return a festive bundle or ornament to them in return!
4. Weave, sew, tie, or glue your plant material into place. Have you been saving twist ties in a junk drawer? This is the perfect use for them! Layer greenery, bright berries or blooms, dried flowers stalks, and weave through spare ribbon or dried grass stalks to tie it all together. 
5. Take a step back, admire your work, and share! We’d love to see your creativity at play–tag us in a post or reply to this newsletter with a photo, and we’ll share with TWNC followers! 

Some considerations: 

• If you’re bringing your wreath or any plant material inside, be sure to choose pet- and people-friendly materials! (Poison oak may have stunningly brilliant oranges and reds this time of year, but most folks don’t want it within reach!)
• It’s the rainy season now, so allowing your materials to dry off completely will help ensure the longevity of your wreath. Lay them out on newspaper in front of a sunny window or fan, or hang stems upside down in a dry, warm area for a day or two before using.  

Happy holidays from The Watershed Nursery Cooperative! 

Hollyleaf Redberry

Rhamnus ilicifolia

Available in D-16 containers for $8.50 each!

• Hollyleaf Cherry is a fast growing, handsome, evergreen shrub, often treelike, to 15 ft. high, native to Chaparral and woodland habitats.
• A good species for dry banks and informal screens in hot, dry areas, Hollyleaf Cherry also takes well to pruning. It has attractive holly-like leaves and ornamental red berries in the fall that are excellent for wildlife, and make for festive greenery for a holiday decoration.
• All Rhamnus species attract butterflies & beneficial insects, Hollyleaf Cherry is also valuable to native fruit-eating bat species!
• Songbirds, including the California Bluebird, Mockingbird, and California Thrasher, relish the fruits & swarm the shrubs when the berries are ripe.

Creeping Barberry/Creeping Mahonia

Berberis aquifolium var. repens

Available in D-16 containers for $8.50, D-40 for $10.90, and one gallon containers for $16.50 each!

• Creeping Oregon Grape (also called Dwarf Mahonia) is a low-growing variety of Berberis aquifolium that reaches 2-3 ft. tall and up to 5 ft. wide with a mounding and spreading form. It has dense yellow flower clusters in the spring that then transform into edible dark purple-blue berries like that of its straight species counterpart.
• A striking choice for an evergreen groundcover in a partially shady area of the garden, or as a bank stabilizer. Like Oregon grape, this creeping variety is drought tolerant, and its shiny, deep red leaves make for beautiful fall color in a wreath or bouquet.

Snowberry

Symphoricarpos albus

Available in D-40-o for $10.90, TB4-o for $15.70, and 2-Gal-o for $30.25 each!

• Deciduous shrub that grows 2 ft. tall by 3 ft. wide
• Named for its attractive white berries that are incredibly abundant this time of year, and look like darling little ornaments when added to a wreath or holiday bouquet!
• Wonderful choice for planting under oaks and in other dry shade conditions, or can tolerate a moist shady spot in the garden.
• Also fantastic for erosion control on steep banks since its roots are vigorous and deep
• Likely will attract quail, pheasants, and grouse in the garden for their delectable berries, which are an important winter food source

American Dogwood

Cornus sericea

Available in 2-Gal-o pots for $30.25 each!

• This deciduous shrub grows 15 ft. tall and 25 ft. wide.
• It spreads by rhizomes, so it will quickly fill in a wet area of the garden
• Makes a beautiful winter accent both in and out of the garden with its wine-colored bark and deep green foliage!
• Often planted as an ornamental, both to beautify the landscape and to attract birds.
• For a festive decoration, prune 8-12 inch long twigs for wreath making, either as a stand-alone red-twig wreath or as the foundational bundle to build upon with other foliage from the garden.
• Following the holidays, this Dogwood dazzles with sweet-smelling white flowers in the spring.

Toyon

Heteromeles arbutifolia

Available in D-40 pots for $10.90 and 2-gal pots for $31.50 each!

• This evergreen shrub to small tree grows to 15 feet tall and is a great choice for erosion control, fire resistance, and as an informal hedge in the landscape.
• With little pruning required, Toyon’s pretty red winter berries attracts birds and bees. This is also an important nectar plant for the California Tortoiseshell butterfly!
• For crafty folks, the berries and dark green leaves make useful decorations around the holidays, playing beautifully with Snowberry, White Sage, or Coyote Brush.
• Attractive in flower as well as fruit, this native, noninvasive alternative to firethorn (Pyracantha) or Cotoneaster is a must for bird-friendly gardens.

Coyote Brush

Baccharis pilularis ssp. consanguinea

Available in D-40 pots for $10.90 each!

• This evergreen shrub grows 3 – 6 ft. tall, and matures in 1 – 2 years.
• Use this classic Californian shrub in the landscape as an evergreen hedge (prune to desired shape), or grow loosely with companion plants like Sticky Monkeyflower or California sagebrush for a more natural look.
• Coyote brush is a keystone species and an amazing habitat plant. It can be used for restoration and erosion control projects, and is tolerant of clay soils and drought. In grasslands, it improves cover for rabbits and other small mammals.
• Each plant is either male or female (dioecious)– the male flowers are yellowish and produce pollen, while the female flowers are white and produce fruit.
• It blooms throughout fall and winter, so it is the perfect addition to festive decor with its white fluffy tufts of seeds that resemble snow 🙂

‘Bee’ Well and Happy Holidays! from all of us at

The Watershed Nursery Cooperative <3