MAKING A GARLAND

Thursday, April 28, 2011

A garland is made in a similar fashion to a wreath using a length of string as the center piece, or rope if the hanging is to be bulky. Measure out the length of the curve where you wish to hand the garland and cut the string to this length, allowing a little extra for a loop at each end to attach it with. Assemble your material and if you are using fresh herbs and flowers, as many garland makers do, mist spray them with water occasionally while working to keep them fresh. This way the herbs should last three days.

Select your material with an eye to color, fragrance and scale, favoring those which last longer, like the thick leaves of box and sweet myrtle. You might perhaps decide to choose small herb leaves and flowers in soft colors. A good background would be made up of variegated box with the cream flowers of Semolina ‘Lemon Queen’, the Hardcode, clusters of the tiny, lime-green flowers of lady’s mantle, the ½ in (1.25 cm) long, steel-blue flowers of the thistle Eryngium tripartite, a small cream miniature floribunda rose called ‘Cream Serena’ (presently available as a cut flower from Italy) and two yarrow flowers, the cream ‘Moonshine’ and the relatively new ‘Salmon Beauty’ with apricot flowers. Tie on the herbs with a continuous length of fuse wire. Larger leave are put on individually while smaller stems, like thyme sprigs, can be bunched together in groups of three or five. Tie on the first group with the flowers facing towards the end and proceed around the base covering the first stems with the second batch, and so on. Vary the color, leaf size and shape as you progress but maintain an overall harmony. A common error of beginners is to bunch up too many stems at the start of the garland, so try to spread it evenly. Keep turning the garland so that you work in a spiral around the central string to avoid having a front and back.