How to Make Garland From Real Greenery For a Fresh and Festive Look

By
Maria Sabella
Maria Sabella
Maria Sabella

Maria Sabella is an E-Design consultant and has spent the last six years working in the interior design and staging industries, as well as writing digital content focused on home-related topics.

Learn more about The Spruce's Editorial Process
Published on 11/25/23
How to make Christmas garland from greenery

Kseniya Ovchinnikova / Getty Images

Project Overview
  • Working Time: 1 hr
  • Yield: 1 garland
  • Skill Level: Beginner
  • Estimated Cost: $50–100

Make a festive Christmas garland out of fresh greenery to adorn a mantel, doorway, or dining table. There's nothing like the fresh scent of evergreen branches to fill your home with the holiday spirit. Instead of dusting off an old artificial garland, try your hand at making your own using foraged greenery.

This step-by-step tutorial will tell you what types of greenery are best suited for a sturdy garland base, which decorative foliage makes for beautiful accents, and how to finish off the garland with a festive finishing touch.

Before You Begin

Before you begin making your garland, decide on the look you want to create, figure out where it's going and how long it needs to be, and gather all the necessary tools and supplies.

Whether you're going for a simple design with a single type of greenery or want to make an extra festive garland using a mix of boughs, the key is starting with a sturdy foundation. The best types of greenery for your base are pine, cedar, juniper, boxwood, noble, or frasier fir branches.

To bulk up the garland and make it more interesting, you can layer in more delicate fresh greenery such as eucalyptus, holly, magnolia leaves, or olive branches. To add color, you can finish off the garland with Christmas ornaments, ribbon, bows, or floral picks.

What You'll Need

Equipment / Tools

  • Gardening shears or heavy-duty scissors

Materials

  • Fresh greenery such as pine, cedar, juniper, boxwood, noble or frasier fir
  • Decorative greenery such as eucalyptus, magnolia leaves, holly or magnolia leaves
  • Floral wire
  • Ribbon, Christmas ornaments, floral picks (Optional)
  • Strand of battery-operated twinkle lights (Optional)
  • Self-adhesive hooks for hanging (Optional)

Instructions

  1. Prepare Your Work Space

    Begin by preparing your workspace. Fresh greenery can get messy and requires sufficient space to prevent branches from breaking.

    You will need a large flat worktop or enough floor space that can get dirty.

  2. Come Up With a Design

    Before you get started, decide where the fresh greenery garland will go and what you want it to look like, as this will determine the type and amount of supplies.

    Measure the space where the garland will go—if you are hanging it, figure out its necessary length and if it will sit on a mantel or dining table. Also, make sure to take the depth into account.

  3. Gather Tools and Supplies

    Now that you have a design in mind, gather all your tools and supplies. Prepare the fresh greenery by laying it out and inspecting every branch, removing any dirt, bugs, or dry pieces. Trim the ends so that the branches are a uniform length.

  4. Make Greenery Bundles

    Now it's time for the fun to begin—the garland will be comprised of multiple individual bundles of greenery that will form one long, continuous piece.

    Each bundle needs to be constructed individually, and you can decide how full and voluminous each will be depending on what you want the garland to look like.

    Begin by layering together a couple of branches, then securing them together at the base using floral wire. You may need to secure them with floral wire in more than one spot to ensure the bundles don't come undone.

    Continue this process until you have used up all the fresh greenery. What's key is that all the bundles are approximately the same size—both in length and width—so that the entire length of the finished garland has a uniform appearance.

  5. Put It Together

    Once you have assembled all the individual fresh greenery bundles, it's time to put them together. Place one bundle that will serve as one of the garland ends on your work surface, then place a second bundle next to it, so that it overlaps over the end bundle slightly to hide the bottoms of the branches.

    Grab a piece of floral wire and secure the two bundles together discreetly, hiding the wire under branches. Repeat this step until you reach the last assembled greenery bundle.

  6. Cap the End of the Garland

    Once you have reached the end of the garland and there's only one individual fresh greenery bundle left, instead of securing it in a place like the previous bundles, flip it horizontally. The branch ends of the garland and the bundle should be facing one another.

    Nestle the final bundle's base into the garland end and attach the two using floral wire. Fluff out the greenery as needed to hide any bare spots.

  7. Layer In Extra Greenery

    This step is optional, but if you want to add contrast and dimension, tuck more delicate fresh greenery into the finished garland, making sure it's securely attached.

    This could be fresh eucalyptus, holly, or magnolia leaves that adds a new layer of scent, texture, and color to the garland and helps increase its volume.

  8. Finish Off the Garland With Festive Decorations

    You can either stick with a simple look and leave the fresh greenery garland plain, or you can add an extra festive touch with extra decorations.

    Use floral wire or ornament hooks to attach ribbons, bows, ornaments, or floral picks, and make sure they are evenly distributed throughout the garland for a balanced look.

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