Interiors: Why you should go the extra mile this Christmas and make your own wreath
As golden leaves flutter and fall, it’s time to get all fired up about decorating for the festive season. From a stunning wreath on the front door, to scented table pieces, to traditional garlands snaking their way up the bannisters, it’s the stylish and fragrant way to add seasonal cheer, and chuck the potted cacti of summer.
Once you’ve experienced the pleasure of making your own wreath, there’s no looking back. Schedule a weekend at home with friends or family, serving crumbly mince pies and Christmas cocktails. The hard bit is making the wreath, and the fun bit is decorating it, so floral couturier Neill Strain sells ready-made foliage wreaths of mixed spruce and holly for £150 (plus £15 delivery).
To decorate, you’ll need a hot-melt glue gun from a craft shop, plus your dried fruit, cinnamon sticks, fir cones, baubles and ribbon. In Strain’s shop in Belgravia he sells pretty furbelows for you to pick from, or they can make the whole thing up for you bespoke. His favourite look for Christmas 2018 is gold, white, champagne and silver.
Neill Strain wreath
Florists all over London offer wreath-making workshops, which are often a lively affair, and you will bask in admiration for weeks to come. If you look after it, it should last into New Year as fresh as a daisy.
Alternatively shop online – Strain’s table-centres start from £67.50 including delivery within London (neillstrain.com). The Real Flower Company’s blooms are grown on a farm on the South Downs (realflowers.co.uk – pre-order for Christmas with 15 per cent off until Sunday). Its bestsellers are glass-tube tablecentres – pretty, eyecatching and original (£70). Customers also love their scented foliage – eucalyptus, rosemary and silver lavender. The Odd Flower also sells British seasonal flowers, as a subscription and gifting service (theoddflower.com).
For armfuls of blooms head to Columbia Road on Sundays from 8am, or you can join the professional florists at New Covent Garden Flower Market in Nine Elms (opens 4am), which the co-founder of The London Flower School, Wagner Kreusch, recommends. “There’s a huge selection of seasonal flowers and foliage, such as amaryllis, red roses and holly,” he says. “The colours are incredible and the smell of eucalyptus is intoxicating. Be brave and go big by using tall vases. Mix these with candelabra – also available at the flower market – and seasonal fruits and cones on a red tablecloth.”
McQueens wreath
Alongside wreaths and floral displays, plants can take centre stage in winter as well as in summer. “We love wintery plants – bay or olive trees clipped into decadent balls, dressed with lush red velvet ribbons, and small red or white cyclamen plants,” says Kally Ellis, the founder of florist McQueens, which works with many five star hotels. “Try festive bowls of bulbs, styled with wintery branches, such as pussy willow or magnolia.”
And if you leave it too late to book a masterclass, Neill Strain himself will come to your home and take care of everything for you, from £750.
London Flower School Christmas wreath workshop, tomorrow, £160; wreath and tablecentre workshop, 15 December, £275 (londonflowerschool.com)