17 Plants You Can Use to Make the Perfect Homemade Christmas Wreath

Vines

If you are looking for Christmas wreath ideas, maybe try turning invasive vine into a beautiful holiday wreath. Twisted vines offer great accents to a holiday wreath. From the wild grapevine to wisteria, honeysuckle, and Virginia creepers, there are so many different kinds of vines that you could use to create your own DIY Christmas wreath.

Use them fresh or dried. If you are using old, dried vines, a quick soak in some warm water will make them more pliable to work with. Most woody vine wreaths are sturdy and will last you for years together.

Fir

Firs are another favorite when it comes to classic holiday decorating. From the beautiful Fraser Fir and Concolor Fir to the traditional Balsam Fir or fragrant Douglas Fir, these evergreen branches are all just perfect for crafting a holiday wreath. Firs thrive best in hot, dry indoor conditions and will last several weeks if they are properly taken care of.

Spruce

The spruce is a classic for wreath decoration. Blue spruce, especially, has gorgeous silvery blue needles that will make your DIY Christmas wreath stand out from the crowd.

The only downside to using spruce though is that their needles will shatter if they are left in a warm place. So, you always want to place a spruce wreath outside or inside a cool covered porch.

Juniper

If you are looking for ideas for an evergreen Christmas wreath, you just can’t go wrong with the brightness and warmth of Junipers. Commonly found in the eastern United States and the Rockies, Junipers have foliage that is fragrant and comes in tones of green and silver-blue.

Junipers have a better chance of thriving outside as their needles can turn brittle in the heat of your home.

Boxwood

The lush, fragrant, densely foliated, and fine-textured foliage of boxwood has great appeal and is perfect for bringing a touch of nature’s elegance to your home. Snip off a few stems and soak them in water overnight and they are ready to use in your DIY Christmas wreath for your door, or the mantle piece.

Well-hydrated boxwood wreaths will last you anywhere between one to two months. Preserved boxwood wreaths, on the other hand, can last for up to four years if taken care of properly. While boxwood wreaths are beautiful, be warned that they can sometimes have an overwhelming musky odor that tends to put off some folks.

Holly

What better way to brighten your door for Christmas than with traditional holly! Working with Holly can be tough though. It is very structured and spikey.

For making your own handmade holly wreath, a less prickly variety like the Buford Holly may be more suitable. The Buford variety is available throughout the South. However, you want to make sure you don’t expose the cuttings to frost or the berries and the leaves can go black.

Cedar

Another idea to make your own festive Christmas wreath is to use cedar. Cedar wreaths are elegant and timeless. Featuring soft, feathery foliage and an intoxicating woody fragrance, these evergreen trees are perfect for giving your big ol’ front door a warm, welcoming look. Making a cedar wreath is as simple as clipping a few cedar branches from a tree and tying them all together.

Cedar cones are a good addition to these feathery greens in your wreath. If you are using cedar cones, it would be a good idea to spray them with lacquer or acrylic to prevent the messy release of pollen into the air.

Magnolia

Freshly cut Magnolias make stunning holiday wreaths and have long been a symbol of the South. The deep green, glossy leaves with fuzzy brown undersides have great visual appeal and will render elegance and warmth to your front door, mantle, or porch.

Magnolia wreaths can thrive indoors or outdoors. The leaves of the Magnolia plant hold up well even with very little water. As they dry out, the leaves of this plant may start to curl up though.

Mountain Laurel

Mountain Laurel, an evergreen shrub with thick spreading branches is another great candidate to use for holiday greenery. As with most broad-leaved evergreens, they are best suited for the outdoors.

While mountain laurels can make beautiful, dreamy wreaths, these plants are poisonous so you want to use caution when you work with these plants.

Pine

From the Virginia Pine to the White Pine, there are so many different varieties of this needled evergreen that you can use in your holiday arrangement. They have excellent needle retention and are long-lasting.

Pines are best suited for indoor display as they dry out slowly and generally do well in warm interior temperatures.

Smilax

Smilax is a versatile, attractive vine with thick, glossy leaves. The two popular varieties of Smilax grown in the U.S. are the Wild Smilax and the Southern Vine. The Southern vines also called Jackson vines are widely used in traditional holiday and wedding decorations in the South. These ‘unarmed vines’ (they are virtually thornless) are easy to weave into wreaths and drape over your front door or porch.

The Smilax wreath may not last you very long but they are well worth the effort.

Yew

If you want to go the old-fashioned way, yews are another fantastic shrub to use in your wreath. They are thick, lush, and a beautiful dark green and can be easily found in overgrown landscapes or tree dumps.

The bright red berries of yew are especially attractive but also extremely toxic. So, you want to be careful when you display and dispose of wreaths made of yew.

Hydrangea

If you are looking to add something unique to your holiday wreaths, dried hydrangeas from your garden are a great option. Hydrangeas come in beautiful shades of purple, green, and pink and will put on a great show when displayed on a wreath.

These gorgeous shrubs dry out easily and will remain beautiful for a long, long time.

Eucalyptus

The beautifully fragrant eucalyptus with its silvery blue-green leaves is another excellent choice of greenery for holiday wreaths. They can last out of water for a very long time and dry out beautifully. Silver dollar, willow eucalyptus, and baby eucalyptus are some of the best types of fresh eucalyptus to use in your Christmas wreaths.

Cypress

Yet another fresh greenery that you can incorporate into your holiday decorating is cypress. The beautiful, lacey, and vibrant foliage of the Leyland Cypress especially, looks great in tabletop decorations and wreaths.

With proper care, most cypress wreaths can brighten your home for several weeks and may even last throughout the holiday season.

Red Twig Dogwood

Another idea for creating your own Christmas wreath is to use red twig dogwood. The red twig dogwood is a wild plant that gets its name from the brilliant red color that its stems develop in the winter. These beautiful branches make wonderful wreaths and can be easily found growing in the wilderness near you.

Red twig dogwoods are quite tough. So, if you find yourself struggling to bend the branches, soak them in warm water first and this will make it easier to weave them into a wreath.

Rosehips

If you want to give your holiday wreath an attractive burst of Christmas color, wild rosehips and berries from your garden should do the trick. Rosehips are generally found in plentiful supply in December and are persistent fruits that will linger on for a long time.

Gather them from your garden and simply arrange them in small bunches or mix them up with foraged evergreens, to give your door a festive look.