Rustic Barn Wreath Made From Native Branches, Vines & Pinecones

Our daughter was getting married at my husband’s family farm last month. The farm is in great shape, but when you look out the kitchen window overlooking the farm, the first thing you see is this large storage shed. It needed something . . . maybe a huge wreath!! The wheels started turning and my vision came to life!

I wanted to create this wreath, using nothing but natural plants, twigs, vines etc. found around the farm. There is a small woods down the lane and I found the large branches I would need, along with huge pine cones. In our city yard, we have a lot of English Ivy and that would work for the vines. I loved that the only thing I needed to buy was wire to hold it all together – for about $4. So this is what I did…

Large embroidery hoop - or any round sturdy thing the size of the wreath you want

A bunch of English Ivy vines

A bunch of bare branches and twigs - up to 7' long

Pine Cones

Eucalyptus branches

Pliers

Twine

18-Gauge Galvanized Utility Wire (or any flexible but strong wire)

Hot Glue Gun and Glue

Gloves

Pruning Sheers

Twine

A strong back board, I used a piece of lattice

First I needed to make a STRONG STURDY wreath to hold the large elements what would make up this wreath. As a base to work on, I used a large embroidery hoop I had in the basement (pic.1). I used it once about 10 years ago – luckily I save EVERYTHING! You never know when it will come in handy! 

Then I needed my vines. Normally you hear of Grape Vine Wreaths, but since I didn’t have any grape vines, I wondered if the English Ivy vines that I have in the flower beds around my house would work. They worked GREAT!!  I gathered a number of long vines. I found that if you hold the vine at the end farthest from where it is attached at the ground, with a gloved hand you can just pull down on the vine and all the leaves strip off really easily. (pic. 2)

Once I got a bunch of stripped vines prepared, I started loosely braided them (pic.3). This made them easier for me to handle while wrapping.I started wrapping the braided vines around the wooden hoop, until I got the size of wreath I wanted. When one braid ended, I wired it securely to the wreath and started winding the next braid. I went back and got more vines as needed. I wanted it large enough to support the weight and loose enough to be able to poke branches in. (pic. 4&5). Once done, I laid it over our Chiminea to dry out a bit while I collected branches (pic. 6). 

I went out to the back woods at the farm and started collecting dry branches and twigs that would fill out the wreath (pic.1). I chose branches 4-5 feet long. I looked for those that had a few branches shooting off of it so it would fill out the wreath (pic. 2). I also gathered together any dried flowers that might work, and grabbed a bunch of eucalyptus branches and other dried twigs I had been saving for dried flower arrangements.

I started poking the larges branches in first, wrapping them securely to the wreath with twine (pic.3, 4 & 5).I then added all the eucalyptus and twigs I had to fill out the wreath, wrapping with twine as I went (pics. 6&7). It was coming along! But I found it was really getting heavy…. what to do?? So I took a trip to the shed…. 

With the help of my wonderful husband, we found an old but heavy piece of trellis that was laying around.He cut if roughly the size of the wreath I started with (pic.1). I figured at this point, twine wasn’t going to be strong enough, so I started using heavy wire. I went to Menards and purchased a roll of 25lb. 18-Gauge Galvanized Utility Wire for $3.46! This was the perfect wire for me to cut, twist and secure everything to the lattice backing with a pair of needle nose pliers (pic. 2). I continued adding/wiring branches, twigs and eucalyptus until I felt it was good. 

I had my ‘bride to be’ daughter hold up the wreath to give me an idea of the size against the side of the shed (pic.1). Ok…. This wasn’t going to work . . . I wanted it HUGE to balance out the side of the shed.I needed more branches. I went back out and got even longer branches – 6-7’ long this time! I also gathered a bushel full of the huge pine cones that fell off the trees to the left of the shed. Then I grabbed my handy-dandy glue gun and started poking, wiring and gluing like a mad woman! I finally felt I had added enough – if it was any bigger, I don’t think we could have lifted it (pic. 2&3). 

So I had my husband hold it up this time to see how it would look (pic.4). PERFECT!! This was what I was envisioning!

Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of my son attaching it to the shed, but he did an awesome job! He got out his tall ladder. He put rope through the lattice and yanked it up to the location where I wanted it. At that point he drilled in a few heavy duty screws and securely anchored it to the shed. He did an awesome job – that wreath is up there for good!! (Pic. 1)

We had some strong winds and storms here in Indiana, and it hasn’t budged. The wedding was wonderful and the wreath made a nice backdrop for the old Oliver Tractor my new son-in-law displayed, to have photo ops during the wedding!