A Wreath for the Birds

I started making wreaths in the early 2000s, when Martha Stewart was everywhere (books, television, magazines). She was always making them with all sorts of themes and materials. Her wreaths were inspiring; earlier this winter, I made one out of glass Christmas tree ball ornaments based off one she did.

After all the holiday hubbub, I was in the mood for something more natural. Wreaths look good anytime of the year. A wreath that also feeds the birds is a lovely way to ring in the new year and brighten up the long winter.

I began with a basic wreath frame. Metal wreath forms of varying sizes and forms are readily available at craft stores and online. I used a 12-inch form. I wandered around the yard with my pruners, gathering a mix of pine and spruce boughs and even some crabapple branches with the fruit still intact. I never shy away from trimming evergreens for seasonal décor; a trim here and there usually isn’t noticeable. Twelve evergreen boughs and five small crabapple branches filled the frame lushly. I wired them onto the frame with 10-gauge, green paddle wire, which is available wherever craft supplies are sold. As you wire the boughs and branches onto the frame, you can make the wreath as loose and wild or tight and circular as you like. This is an opportunity to create the style of your choosing. I went for a relaxed, natural wreath shape. If you’d like a compact circular shape, you can use more wire to secure the branches to the form more snugly.

Once I had the basic wreath form in place, it was time to festoon it—this is where the real fun began. I was lucky to have a sunflower head saved from a previous year’s garden. Most of the heads were picked clean by the birds in the fall, but I had happened to cut and save one before they got to it because I thought it was so beautiful. A sunflower head is like a bowl of candy to the birds. So, sunflower seeds and crabapples were the prize treats in my wreath. I had hoped to include coneflower heads, but alas, the birds had already picked them clean. Next year, I will cut and save a few to use in a winter wreath.

I planned to incorporate cranberries into my design—wreathmakers sometimes place them in lotus pods and secure on a wreath—but they were no longer available in the stores. I was able to find berries intact on my black chokeberry bushes, and these provided an additional treat for the birds while providing a contrast of shape and color.

You can continue to decorate your wreath with any dried elements you find, like hydrangea blooms and ornamental grass heads, though they will only add visual interest and not feed the birds. But I have to think that the birds appreciate not only the buffet but also your artful touches.

Eric Johnson is a longtime contributor to Northern Gardener® magazine and a lifelong gardener. His self-help memoir, Emotional Eater, came out in December 2023.