It’s Still Just Dirt – November 2015, The Tillsonburg News
by Penny Esseltine

Santa’s suit is red, snow is white, shiny glitter can be silver or gold, but the dominant, in fact the only Christmas colour at the meeting of the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society earlier in November was green.

Henry Eising, owner of Eising Greenhouses and Garden Centre on Cockshutt Road in Simcoe, came with containers full of fresh cut local greenery. He was eager to share the fine art of making Christmas wreaths from fresh evergreen cuttings. Working alongside Henry was Dave Zeldon, former president of the Simcoe Horticultural Society and past horticultural teacher at Simcoe District High School.

Henry says, “There’s no such thing as an ugly wreath.”  Simply put the task for each of the three, three-person volunteer demonstration teams that night was to make small bundles of branches about the size of the space formed by joining your thumb with your index finger together. Then each team was asked to do the same thing eight times in total. “The bigger the bundle the bigger your wreath will be,” Henry says.

The greenery in Henry’s containers included Fraser Fir from Fox Hollow, Eising grown White Spruce as well as Norway Spruce, White Cedar, Yew, Boxwood, White Pine and Blue Juniper. For Christmas greenery you could also choose Hemlock, Blue Spruce, Austrian Pine or Red Pine.

“There’s an upside down and a right side up to all branches,” Henry says. They definitely look different. For example Fraser Fir branches have white lines on the underneath side. You can choose to have either side facing up.

To form the bundles Henry suggests you start with the longest branch (about 8 to 10 inches) and work your way down so that all of the different kinds of foliage can be seen in the bundle. “The stuff on the outside of the bundle should be the heavier stuff,” he says, “and work your way toward the finer stuff.”

The wreath frames that Henry brought consisted of two connected circular wire frames with pairs of tines spaced evenly around the outside and inside circles. These tines can be pinched together by hand, by using a pair of pliers, or by using Henry’s Wreath Maker 5000 machine. Pinching the tines together around the bundles will hold each bundle of branches in place. The wreath frames come in a variety of sizes with up to 20 pairs of tines for bunches of greenery. The ones we used for demonstration had just eight pairs.

Once you have a bunch of greenery held in place by the tines Henry says to trim off the stem end of the bundle to about two inches past the peg. Then pinch the next bunch in place and so on until you have worked your way around the wreath frame. Lastly, snip off any brown tips or anything that’s sticking out and look to see that the wreath is well-balanced.

You can hang a wreath on your door for the entire festive season. The fresh evergreen smell is marvellous. “To make it last even longer you can spray the wreath with a product called Wilt Proof,” Henry says.

The all-green demonstration wreaths that were created at the meeting consisted of just greenery. “Some people,” Henry says, “ask where all the frou frou glittery stuff is.” He says that if you choose to add decorative pieces, bells or ribbons or bows before Christmas you can take them off after Christmas and your just-green wreath will still be perfectly fine.

Of the three demonstration wreaths assembled at the Horticultural Society meeting the favourite was the one with all of the underside of the foliage facing out. It was lush and full and people thought it looked much more shimmery. It was constructed by the all male threesome of Horticultural Society members Norm, Bill and Louis.

If you’re unsure about trying to make a fresh evergreen wreath of your own at home, Eising’s offers Build Your Own Christmas Wreath Workshops for groups of various sizes in the lead up to the festive season. The cost is about $40 each and this includes the greenery. Call 519-428-4607 for information or visit eising.ca online.

For information about the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society visit tillsonburghorticultural.ca.