Come on to My House: Magnolia Wreath

I love magnolia. It’s so southern and charming. It’s also versatile. I’ve used it in weddings bouquets, mix with other greenery as filler down the center of a table, in centerpieces, and even in overhead installations like lanterns or chandeliers.

I’ve seen magnolia wreaths before and wanted to make one for myself. I think this design works both vertically (hanging on a door) or horizontally (laying on a table). On a table you might consider adding a hurricane vase with a candle in the middle.

Making a magnolia wreath is fairly easy.

Items Needed
Styrofoam wreath form
Floral staples
Hot glue
Magnolia (or you could substitute for another flat leaf evergreen)
Optional but recommended, ribbon/bow

Steps
1. Collect magnolia from nature
2. Pull leaves off, sort into piles by size
3. Select a cluster of leaves and lay them across the wreath form for measurement. Be sure to allow for overlapping on the edges. For mine, larger leaves were three across and smaller four across.
4. Hot glue across the form and attach the first magnolia leaf and secure with a floral staple. Continue applying hot glue, leaves, and staples in a fish scale pattern until you have completely circled the form.
5. Add bow securing with floral staple(s)

This wreath will last about a month and as it dries the edges of the magnolia will begin to curl. If you want an everlasting magnolia wreath look into artificial leaves. But I like that after the magnolia dries I can pull it off, save the staples, and re-use the form for another wreath. Maybe next time I’ll go to my florist for some lemon leaf or eucalyptus. From nature I might use some boxwood or flat leafed photinia.