My Santolina Wreath is a new twist on the holiday season. I started with an inexpensive grape vine wreath form from the dollar store. Then I thrust springs of Santolina, each about a foot long and wrapped them with green wire and embellished it with a couple of springs of berries. I finished the wreath with a candy-striped red and white bow – recycled from a previous year and there it was – an easy, new wreath.
If you are wondering what it is, Santolina Santolina chamaecyparissus, commonly called lavender cotton or gray santolina, is a small, semi-woody, tender sub-shrub with aromatic, evergreen, silver-gray foliage. It typically grows in a mound to 2′ tall spreading to 3′ wide. It is native to the Mediterranean area. It like limey, dry soil. In my yard, it appreciated the later cool and dry part of the season by burgeoning in size into a small shrub. I had planted it a year ago. Santolina may need to be cut back severely every year or it becomes long and woody – another reason to cut springs for a wreath.
I don’t know if you do this at this time of year – amuse yourself by looking at the Better Homes and Gardens online fancy new wreaths. Most times, I enjoy looking at them and find them for the most part eye candy which I would not try making. So this project really made me feel good. I’m not exactly a domestic diva ala Martha Stewart, but just someone who gets a creative urge once in a while.
On another note, if you like to curl up with a book, I’d like to suggest my book, An Unfortunate Accident. It could also be an easy gift to any reader on your list. This is not why I did it – but it has none of the topics many find “objectionable” nowadays. It’s just a story because I like telling them. You can get a physical book or an electronic one.
Another reason I brought it up is because I’m hoping my next book will come out next year – it’s in the oven so to speak and it does include some of the characters in this book. Happy Holidays!