Make Your Own Garland

Why not use a garland as a beautiful table decoration for Christmas? For New Year's Eve, you can reuse the garland and decorate it with orchids, for example. A garland is also perfect if you want to add a special touch to a party or wedding.

It’s not difficult to make your own garland. Choose plants you like and get started! Try different combinations to find the ones that suit your style and taste—practice makes perfect. Various winter greenery and eucalyptus will stay fresh for at least a week, so you can make the garland in advance.

• Winter greenery or other plants. We used thuja, eucalyptus, pine, and fir branches
• Rope – as long as you want your garland to be. Measure, for example, a dining table or around a doorway beforehand
• Pruning shears
• Steel wire or floral wire
• Pliers
• Decorations. We used mini succulents

Step 1
Start by wrapping the steel wire securely around the rope. For a better hold, it’s a good idea to start a little way in from the end of the rope.

TIP! Leave a bit of the rope's end free if you want to hang the garland. You can also cut it off later.

Step 2
Create a small bouquet of plants and wrap it tightly onto the rope with the steel wire. We first attached thuja as a base, lying flat against the table surface. After that, we added bouquets of other plants to build height. Remember to wrap the wire fairly tightly since the plants shrink as they dry.

TIP! If you want a more compact garland, make smaller bouquets and bind them closer together. For a fuller garland, you can do as shown in the picture and make longer, splaying bouquets. Experiment and see what works best.

Cut plenty of twigs in advance so you’re ready to bind the garland, which makes the job easier.

Step 3
Continue attaching small bouquets to the rope with the steel wire until you have about 15−20 cm left of the rope. We continued using thuja at the bottom and bouquets of eucalyptus, fir, and pine on top.

Step 4
To finish the garland nicely, turn the last bouquet in the opposite direction on the rope. Tuck the ends in between the branches of the previous bouquets. Secure additional small, backward-facing bouquets in multiple layers to make the garland lush and full. You can also add individual branches to cover the wire and give the garland a smooth shape.

TIP! Did your garland turn out a little uneven? Don’t worry! You can easily tuck in extra branches afterward to fill any gaps. Just fasten the new branches into the existing wire.

Step 5
If you want to decorate with succulents, you can remove the soil, but try to keep as much of the roots as possible. This makes it easier to secure the succulents with wire and replant them once you're done with the garland.

Step 6
Use steel wire to place the succulents in the garland. Pull the wire through the garland and secure it on the back. The thick leaves help the succulents stay fresh for at least a week.

You can decorate the garland with a variety of items – choose what fits your style. At Plantasjen, you'll find a wide selection of beautiful Christmas flowers and decorations to choose from.

For Christmas dinner, we chose red poinsettias, red carnations, and figs.

TIP! To stop the cut poinsettias from oozing sap, you can dip the stems in water at 60 degrees Celsius.

Let your imagination run wild and use what you have around the house. Here, we added a little extra of everything.

You can easily reuse the garland from Christmas dinner for your New Year's party. Just switch out the flowers and decorations.

Here we used orchids, white carnations, and string lights. Wait to decorate the garland with orchids until the day of your party, as cut orchids don't last long without water.

If you want, you can use the same technique to make a garland to hang around the front door and welcome your guests.

For this garland, we used fir branches, thuja, and Korean fir. Choose whatever you like! You can often find much of the material in your own garden.