Since tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent, stores in Austria are full of Advent wreaths (a Austrian tradition), all made with the usual fir branches and decorations. But I kept wondering: why buy one… and why always fir?
So I bought just the straw base and went back to the garden, pruning happily away as usual. And suddenly I started seeing the garden completely differently. Yesterday it looked like dull late autumn. Today I realized it was full of perfect materials.
Here are the steps I ended up taking:
- First, bay laurel
- Then rosemary
- Olive branches
- Lavender
- Eucalyptus
- And as a final touch, berries: some from wild grapevine, and some from a decorative plant in my neighbor’s yard (no idea what it’s called)
Now my Advent wreath smells incredible and didn’t cost more than the straw form and a bit of time in the garden.
by happy-rosemary
11 Comments
Lovely bet it smells amazing
Looks amazing wish I had that hanging on my door!
Purple berries might be beauty berries? They don’t grow where I live so I’m no expert on them but they are the right colour haha. Must smell amazing.
The berries look like it’s from something in the Callicarpa Family. I have a few Callicarpa Americana’s on my property. Not very useful, but they’re nice to look at part of the year.
Might be beautyberry.
I made mine today from grape vine from the garden that I made into a wreath and fir. Fir smells nice. Fir smells like Christmas to me. I live in upper Carinthia and fir grows here and I can go into forest and clip branches for free. The only thing I bought were the candles. I didn’t need to buy the straw form.
The song is O Tannenbaum not O Eucalyptusbaum.
Stunning!!!! I love the callicarpa pops of color
For those of us on the west coast USA – *Umbellularia* californica: Bay Laurel or in Oregon: Myrtlewood.
Love this!
Lovely!
❤️❤️