Evergreen Bouquet
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Storm Damage - fallen limbs
I love the evergreen trees of the Northwest, but they can be hazardous during windstorms. A day or two before the storm, I was watching the trees swaying in a gentle wind. I loved the sight and sound. I wondered about a storm, however. If a large tree came down, we would be in danger. We do not have tall evergreens on our property, but there are trees nearby.
We got warnings about the coming storm on our phone, but the high winds were to hit the coast, or from Seattle north. We are down closer to Mount Rainier. I told my husband we should be fine, but it would be a good idea to have flashlights handy.
We went to bed, with no worries. At 4 AM we were woken with a very loud BOOM sound. We knew immediately that something had hit the house. At first, I thought maybe it was the Costco chairs (shown in the photo). We ran to our back door and peeked out. Nope, the chairs were fine. They are solid and heavy - I can now testify as to their strength! Huge limbs lay across our patio, and up against the house. One limb had punctured a hole in the siding. We waited until light (and wind had ceased) to check out the house. Ugghh! A heavy limb had come down on the edge of the roof, knocking off part of the fascia and bending a gutter to the point where it was no longer usable. Rain water was running off the roof like a waterfall. The closest trees that matched these branches were about a block away. That was a powerful gust that snapped off the limbs and carried them down the street to be dropped on top of our house! Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the damage was not more severe.
All of that damage will be repaired. In the meantime, we had a lot of clean-up to do. A friend helped up cut up the limbs. A neighbor came by to collect evergreen branches to turn into boughs.
Our back yard was filled with the scent of Christmas trees. I thought about my neighbor making boughs out of our mess, and decided that I should create something beautiful from the chaos as well. Considering the cost of a new roof, I SHOULD get something nice out of it all!
Evergreen Porch Bouquet
I had some left-over Christmas craft supplies, plus several decorative plastic pots in my gardening shed. I also had floral supplies. I purchased a bow and a few more decorative items from Hobby Lobby (all on a good sale), and went to work
SUPPLIES
pot or basket: you will need a flower pot (or basket) to place your florals into.
garden pruners: I had some small branches to cut through, so my garden pruners came in handy.
evergreen: I used fresh evergreen from the fallen branches. You could substitute for artificial.
holiday decor: Choose a variety of items. I purchased pinecones with “snow”, a glittery stick piece, a bow for the front of the pot, and berries.
scissors: sharp scissors for cutting packaging of purchased items.
cutting board & wax paper: Use a mat or table covering to protect your working surface. A plastic table cloth to protect the working area is helpful. Use a cutting board for cutting foam. I put together my piece outside on the deck so didn’t need any of these items.
dry floral foam: Buy enough foam to fill the bottom of your container.
NOTE: I could have chosen wet foam, but I know that evergreen branches last through a holiday season without water.
knife: A sharp knife is needed for cutting the floral foam to fit inside the pot.
floral wire cutter: You may need to snip off the stems of purchased decorative items.
floral tape: I didn’t use any tape, but it is helpful for attaching decorative items to wire if needed.
hot glue gun: I didn’t use a hot glue gun, but later realized that it would have been useful for holding the floral foam pieces together.
DIRECTIONS
1. Cut and Place Foam
My first step was to choose a pot. I cleaned it out as much as I could outside (it still had last season’s dirt in it), then took it into the house to wash. It cleaned up nicely.
Place the floral foam into your pot. Use a knife to cut off corners as needed, or to cut pieces smaller. I could have glued the pieces together with a hot glue gun. This would have held them better.
Cover as much of the pot’s bottom as you can. You will be sticking the branches and decorative items into the foam.
NOTE: I did NOT glue anything into the foam. My branches are fresh, so will be removed after the holiday season.
I only used the foam that you see in the photo. I later realized that it would have been helpful to have ALL of the bottom covered. My bouquet turned out beautiful, but it was more difficult to put together due to open spaces in the bottom of the pot.
2. Start Placing Evergreens
The evergreen is the main part of the bouquet, so I recommend starting with that. I am NOT a professional florist, but this worked for me.
As you can see, I had a lot of greenery to work with.
3. Add Decorative Pieces
After adding some small branches, start adding decorative pieces. You may have to move branches, or totally remove some branches. Play around with the design until you are happy with it. The foam held together quite well even though I was adding and removing pieces.
4. Add A Bow
My bow did not come on a stick. It did have a small twist-tie. I tried various methods of sticking it into the foam (attaching to wire was one method), but the bow was heavy and kept flopping forward. I finally used wire to attach it to a wood branch. That did the trick. I stuck the branch down into the foam, and the bow was secured.
The best part is I have left over branches for my holiday table.
This is a super easy DIY exterior sideboard table project made from ready-made legs and a shelf.
More Floral Projects
I turned a fallen tree disaster into a beautiful evergreen bouquet for my front porch. Easy! Use holiday items from your stash.