How to Make an Easy Boxwood Wreath

I love boxwood at the holiday season. There is something about the everlasting greenery that feels like Christmas time. I adore decorating with boxwood and how well it goes not only with pine, but stands so well on it’s own.While I loved decorating with boxwood, I find that preserved boxwood wreaths and garlands are really expensive. I am lucky enough to have some boxwood bushes in my yard and wanted to share with you a tutorial of how to make an easy boxwood wreath with fresh boxwood and a few simple supplies. You can also watch a video of the process in the video player.

Once your boxwood wreath is completed add a bow to the bottom

Gather your supplies for your own Boxwood Wreath

Boxwood clippings with stems-If you don’t have your own Boxwood shrubs in your yard, or a neighbor who will let you borrow some. you can buy fresh boxwood from your local florist, or use another greenery that will hold it’s shape and have a stem like Pine, Magnolia, Holly or even Ivy. To make this project

A dried grapevine wreath form from the craft store

Ribbon

Florist Wire with a wire cutter on the packaging

Pruning shears

A bucket with water (if you don’t plan on making your wreath right away)

Gather your fresh boxwood stems

To begin making your wreath, collect your boxwood sprigs by clipping them with your clippers. Make sure they are long enough that the boxwood cuttings have a small stem part on them. It’s better to collect a small branch that has a few springs on it. It makes the wreath fuller, faster. Also, collect more boxwood than you think you need, especially if you want a denser looking wreath. I used a 6 inch grapevine wreath form and used about 40 dense sprigs between 6-8 inches long and 2-4 inches wide. If you are going to make a large wreath, keep in mind with the addition of the boxwood springs, your wreath will end up about twice the size as when you started. Boxwood can cause irritation,rashes and allergic reaction in some people , so sure to wear gloves and eye protection if needed. Also, these are coming from the outside, so they can have bugs and other critters on them. Giving them a soap and water dunk can help with this.

Supplies to make a grapevine wreath form to make a fresh boxwood wreath

Make your DIY boxwood wreath

Strip the leaves off of the bottom inch of the boxwood spray. This will give you a clean stem to work with. Tuck the bare end of the boxwood stem inside of a gap in the grapevine wreath. Continue to add bunches of boxwood as you work around the wreath. Add the boxwood branches all around the front of the wreath leaving the back open. Tuck the stem ends deeply into the grapevine wreath form. This will help keep them in place. You can add a drop of glue to two, but in my experience it’t not needed. Plus, once you are done with the wreath, you can remove and discard the dried boxwood and reuse the form the next year or for another project.

Tuck boxwood branches into a grapevine wreath form

Continue adding boxwood sprigs around a wreath form for how to make an easy boxwood wreath

Hang your fresh boxwood wreath

Just keep tucking and adding until your fresh boxwood wreath is as full as you like it. Once you have the entire wreath filled in, tie a bow with your ribbon. I used some beautiful velvet ribbon and attached it with floral wire, weaving my wire slightly.

To hang the box wood wreath. I used a second length of ribbon and tied a loop through the top of the wreath. This way I can hang it with my Christmas decor or on a front door.

Add a loop to the top of your fresh boxwood wreath to hang

Take care of your wreath

One thing about a fresh boxwood wreath is since it doesn’t have any preservative, it will dry out. It needs to be kept out of direct sunlight, and If it’s hung on a place with lots of movement it may lose leaves. It should also be kept out of and away from heat or flame as the more it dries out the more flammable it will become. A light dusting can keep it looking fresh. Normally after a few weeks, it may still look good, but it will probably be pretty dry and crunchy to the touch and lose leaves. It can be toxic if eaten so keep out of reach of small children and pets and as earlier stated, it can cause rashes,irritation or allergic reaction in some people.

I personally I love the look of boxwood at the holidays and I love how a fresh wreath like this just brightens up the holidays. I also love eucalyptus at the holidays too for non-traditional greenery.