DIY Fresh Magnolia Wreath

Hello friends!

Magnolia wreaths have been popular since the Colonial days when residents would use natural elements from their surroundings to decorate. I remember as a kid growing up in the 80’s fantasizing while looking at the Southern Living magazines and their Christmas decor. The Colonial style was going strong and the Christmas decor used fresh fruit and greenery everywhere. I loved the fresh magnolia wreaths hanging on the front door and the fruit fans that went above them.

Fast forward to the present and magnolia wreaths are making beautiful accents for both inside and outside…and not just at Christmas.

Still, I have always dreamed of having a live, fresh magnolia wreath.

I spent one hour and one dollar, yes $1, and made a huge magnolia wreath that I hope to hang in my living room.

Here’s what I did.

I started by cutting a few large branches from my magnolia tree.

I took the large branches and began to cut them into smaller pieces that were the length I wanted my wreath to be.

For this project, I used around 25-30 trimmed pieces.

I mentioned a dollar. I spent it on a 14 inch wire wreath from Dollar Tree.

I already had 22 gauge floral wire and zip ties on hand. Either or both of these will be needed to attach the branches to the wire wreath.

Below is a photo of a limb that I cut to the length I wanted. Most of the limbs I used were 12 inches or less.

I snipped the bottom two leaves off of the limb and reserved the leaves. Be sure to remove any broken, discolored or damaged leaves from each limb. If any of your limbs have the cones still on them, cut those off. You may even need to clean the leaves by wiping them with a damp cloth. Lastly, look out for freeloaders that may creepy crawl their way inside your home on the branches.

Below is a photo after I trimmed those bottom two leaves leaving a longer stem.

I began by attaching each limb to the wire wreath using the 22 gauge wire. I tried to alternate the size of each limb and alternate what row on the wreath I attached the wire to to make it fuller.

I also used zip ties for some of the larger branches. Sometimes, I used two zip ties to make sure they were secure.

I worked around the wreath layering the stems as I went around. I would pick the wreath up every few stems and look at it to make sure the shape was the way I wanted it.

I wanted some of the back of the leaves to show so I was sure to turn some of the branches around to show the golden brown backs.

After I finished, I hung the wreath on a door and looked it from a distance. There were a few longer leaves that just looked out of place so I clipped them off. Using all of the extra leaves I had saved, I hot glued some of them on the wreath where there were holes or gaps.

Here’s the finished wreath hanging on my front door.

I am not sure how long the wreath will keep it’s green color. I plan to hang this one in the living room and hope that I will last throughout the Christmas holidays.

My mom bought a dried magnolia wreath and I thought it was beautiful. Although it is very fragile, it has this beautiful aged tea-stained color to it. Mom has hers hanging on her back porch but I am wondering if mine dries to the color of hers, I may leave it on the wall dried. We’ll see…

As usual, I try to keep my projects short, simple and inexpensive. I think I delivered on this one.

I hope you’ll try to make your own wreath for the holidays. Just don’t cut leaves from my tree because I may need to make a few more of these!

Until next time,

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