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Lemon Verbena

It is the lemoniest of all the lemon herbs.  This tropical shrub thrives in the summer producing lemon scented leaves that can be used as a tea or instead of lemon in salads and deserts.  It is a good potpourri ingredient, too.

Basil

Who can think of summer without basil?  It is easy to grow and unsurpassed in the kitchen.

 Patchouli

It is a herb which loves heat and humidity as long as you keep it shaded and well watered.  Not a culinary herb, but widely used in the perfume and body care industry. Patchouli oils are used in soaps, body oils and a host of other items. Believed to relieve stress.

Aloe

Will tolerate drought but also thrives in our summer rainy season if given good drainage. Despite the fact that it looks like a desert plant, it will frequently bleach out under full sun, so try it in partial shade.  A good plant to have around for healing burns and scrapes.

Garlic Chives

It’s a flat-leaved variety of chives.  Much easier to grow here than regular chives. Used as you would any chives, they add a subtle hint of garlic. Always comes handy in the kitchen.

Culantro

 It survives the heat much better than cilantro and has nearly the exact flavor. Lasts throughout the summer.  Because of their spiny flower heads and spiny but soft leaves , this perennial makes an unusual looking addition to the garden.

Mexican Tarragon or Mexican Mint Marigold

True French tarragon does not grow everywhere, but Mexican tarragon is easier to grow. It thrives in  hot, humid summers.  Use in béarnaise sauce, tartar sauce, and on fish.

Cuban Oregano

 The taste is similar to Greek oregano, but the leaves look nothing alike.  Cuban oregano needs plenty of room to grow.

 Pineapple Sage

Most culinary sages struggle in the summer, but pineapple sage, like many ornamental sages, will thrive. It has pretty edible red flowers and leaves with a definite pineapple scent. Use in tea or as a garnish or simply enjoy its scent in the garden.

   Lemon Grass

 A nice tall clump of perennial grass with a light lemony flavor.  The base of the blade makes a lovely tea and is often called for in Asian cooking.

This summer make a soothing hydrangea wreath with summer herbs like basil and chives to beat the heat.

    You will need the following materials:

Blue hydrangea

Herbs like basil and chives

Styrofoam or wreath base

Floral wire

Glue

Bunches of greenery

Berries

Yellow satin ribbon

First of all take a floral wire and wrap it all around the wreath base made of Styrofoam. Now make a loop in the foam using a wire so that you can hang it on the door. Now take some blue hydrangea and separate the flower into single florets. Hot glue all the florets one by one in the wreath base. Make sure you glue them all over the base evenly. Make it tidy and well balanced. Here you can also add some dried heads of roses. Now take some colorful berries and stick them too. 

Next, insert some springs of greenery in between the hydrangeas. The greenery will produce some cooling effect and also gives depth to the arrangement.  Make sure to stick all the florets at the regular interval. Distribute the florets evenly. You can also tie the florets in tiny bunches and stick them too. This will bring clarity in the wreath. To add to the beauty of the wreath, what you can do is, just tie a ribbon and a bow on a wreath.  You can lessen the contour of the wreath by adding some spiky dried flowers as well. Try larkspur or delphinium.

Add sprigs of summer herbs like basil and chives to the wreath.

Finally, add the extra embellishment to the wreath, fir which you will use a ribbon. Tie the ribbon and fold it to form a large bow. You can also attach a large ready-made bow anywhere on the wreath. Look for different variation and be creative. You can simply hang the wreath on the door or a wall and enjoy the summer.

There are a variety of grass found in nature which gives a pleasant variety to natural beauty. Some are ordinary looking, while others are quite interesting, like bear grass, meadow grass, zebra and bog grass. They give a unique twist to floral wreaths and other decorative items.

For a unique grassy wreath follow the given instructions.

Materials:

Straw wreath

Plentiful Zebra grass and Meadow grass

Florist wire

Few wildflowers

Florist wire

Instructions:

Wash and clean the grass. With an old cloth dry the grass. Now separate the grass into several portions. Take pieces of florist wire and make grass bunches with 2-3 wildflowers in each bunch. Now take each bunch and hold it against the wreath with one hand. With the other hand secure the bunch to the wreath by tying with florist wire. Arrange thec other bunches in similar manner to cover the wreath. Make sure that all the bunch ends face the same direction.

Some types of attractive grass wreath you may make:

1)      Fountain Grass wreath

 Natural grass wreaths are usually earthy colors, with possible bright accents. You can make with sorghum, wheat, fountain grass, etc. You can make exclusively with grass or be mixed with a few other materials. This type of wreath will give a very rustic feel. This is one style of wreath that looks especially good on rock walls or on walls of rough cut wood. Of course, they do well on painted walls too. But the color of the grass must be in contrast with the wall color.

2)      Sea-shell grass wreath

Bring home memories of those sun-kissed summer days near the dunes with a wreath for your front door. Attach various shells, large and small, to a natural grass base and hang with a taffeta ribbon bow. Colors like beige, yellow and teal will be best suited for the seashells as they will reflect the colors of sand, sea and sky. For long term enjoyment, protect wreath from direct sunlight and rainfall.

If you have recently returned from a sea-side vacation and are sorely missing the sound of the sea waves, the tangy spray on your face, and the lush greenery, here’s a tip to have them right in your home. Make a sea-side wreath with flowers, foliage that grows in coastal regions accented within sea shells and dried sea-creatures like star anemones. Below you will find ideas to make some of the most dramatic sea side wreaths.

1.      Starfish accented seaside wall/door wreath

Bring the colorful sea creatures in your home by making a wreath of dried plumes of beach grass, bits of sea lavender and yarrow and an assortment of gifts from the sea - driftwood, starfish, a scallop shell and a sea star. Displaying this wreath on your front door or kitchen/bathroom/bedroom wall is the perfect way to freshen up your home with a touch of the seashore

2. Bantam wreaths

These wreaths are the smaller versions of full size wreaths. If you do not have large enough space to hang full size wreaths, you can always decorate the area with bantam wreaths. Purchase from the net or make bantam lavender wreaths, vintage cream beige hydrangea, Sage green hydrangea or other types which match the color of your interiors and accent them with sea shells and sea weeds.

3. Cottage style wreaths

They are handcrafted using generous bunches of dried salal, or lemon leaf, accented with a variety of freshly dried flowers such as pink and blue delphinium/larkspur, hydrangea, English lavender, sea lavender, straw flower and sunflower. You will find them easily on the net or make them during your holidays.

4. Eucalyptus wreaths

Collect some blue green eucalyptus, fresh pussywillows, and natural air dried lemon leaf, pale pink rosebuds, lavender, bunny grass, nigella orientalis, white star flower and true blue larkspur to make this strikingly colorful wreath. The lovely variety of textures and colors will brighten your home for the coming season.  

The red poinsettias make beautiful wreaths, adorning your walls or doors with them gives a whole new dimension to your home décor. But the thing with the red poinsettia is that they are very common. So to make your next poinsettia wreath more interesting and a bit unique, what you can do is make a wreath with white silk poinsettia. A white poinsettia is really elegant and moreover they last much longer than a wreath of natural poinsettia.

So to make this elegant wreath you will need the following items:

• A 10-inch grapevine wreath.
• Silk poinsettias in white color.
• Red satin ribbon.
• A pair of scissors.
• Glue and
• Some decorative jingle bells.

The wreath making procedure:

• To start with lay a sheet of newspaper your working space. Then place your grapevine wreath on the newspaper.
• Next take the red satin ribbon and secure it the base of the wreath by tying the ribbon into a simple bow. Cut the ends of the bow so that they form sharp angles. Make sure that your bow is in the center of the wreath base.
• After the bow, you will have to put up the jingle bells on the wreath. For this take a narrow red satin ribbon and thread it through two jingle bells. Place the bells together on the ribbon tying a knot once the bells are in place.
• Secure this ribbon with the bells to the wreath so that the two bells appear just below the knot of the wreath bow.
• Step back and observe your wreath, see if the placement of the bow and the bells is right.
• Now you will have to arrange your white poinsettias along the base of the wreath. Before you do that using the pair of scissors cut off the stems of the flowers, so that you only have the poinsettia flower heads to work with.
• Apply some glue to the back of the flower heads and secure them to the wreath one by one with equal spacing between them. If you are using medium sized poinsettias than you have about three flower heads on each side of the bow, making six poinsettias in total.

After finishing with the flowers, give it sometime for the glue to dry, then you have use it to enhance the elegance of your living room. 

Hanukkah is a Jewish festival similar to Deepawali the Hindu festival of lights. However, the similarity between the two festivals ends with lights. The legend behind the observance of the Jewish and the Hindu festivals of Hanukkah and Deepawali respectively are poles apart.

To celebrate the festival of Hanukkah people use different forms of Hanukkah decorations, and one of the best among these decorations is the Hanukkah wreath. This wreath is just perfect to grace your door with for the 8 day Hanukkah festival.

To make this Hanukkah wreath you will need:

·        One large bow in blue color.

·        About 20 branches of evergreen leaves and plants.

·        Floral wire.

·        A pair of scissors and wire cutters.

·        A 14 inch wire wreath frame or base.

The procedure:

• To start with cut all your evergreen branches to a uniform size of 6 inches. Use pruning for this purpose.
• Once all the evergreen branches are ready make small bundles out of them and place one along the wreath frame. Using floral wire secure this bundle of evergreen branches to the wreath frame. Make sure that all the cut ends of the branches face the same direction.
• After securing the first bundle take another bundle of branches and place it along the wreath frame so that this one slightly overlaps the cut ends of the first bundle. Secure firmly with floral wire.
• In this way continue placing the bundles of evergreen branches along the wreath base one at a time securing them with floral wire.
• After you cover the whole wreath frame with the branches completely check them once to make sure that there are no loose ends along the wreath.
• Next, get hold of some regular Hanukkah decorative pieces like silver pine cones to decorate your wreath with. You may secure these decorations to the wreath base using glue. Other than that you may also make use of the seasonal flower to decorate your wreath with. Remember to be creative with your decorations.

Lastly, take the large blue bow and secure it to the top of your Hanukkah wreath. Now just fix a metal hanger to the back of your wreath and the wreath is ready to grace your front door.

One of the best ways of expressing the feelings of thankfulness and appreciation is with flowers. You can make this expression of gratitude more special by weaving beautiful flowers into a wreath. And when it comes to making this kind of wreath, that is a Gratitude wreath, one cannot forget those lovely dark pink roses, the flowers that symbolize gratitude and appreciation.

So make a Gratitude wreath with dark pink roses, their presence will make your wreath more than just a simple gratitude wreath. In order to make this wreath you will require:

·    A 14-inch wreath base made up of straw.

·        Dark Pink Roses enough to cover the wreath base.

·    Green moss.

·    Floral wire.

·    Satin ribbons.

·    A hot glue gun and

·    A pair of scissors.

The procedure you will have to follow to make the wreath.

·        Pick dark pink roses that are fresh and in their full bloom from any of the nearby floral shop. Once you get the flowers home, using a pair of sharp scissors immediately cut their stems about four inches below the calyx under running water, at an angle. Put the cut flowers into a vase of clean and cool water. This will keep your flowers fresh.

·        Next, lay the straw wreath base flat on your working table and apply a thin layer of glue on the top surface, inner and outer rim of the wreath. Then arrange a layer of green moss over the glue covering the wreath base completely. Leave the wreath base for about half an hour for the glue to dry.

·        The next step will be arranging the flowers along the circular base of the wreath. Take one pink rose and place it on the wreath by inserting it’s stem into the wreath base. Use floral wire to secure the flower firmly to the wreath base.

·        Leaving a gap of about two fingers arrange another flower in the similar manner as the first one.

·        In this way continue arranging the flowers along the wreath base till you complete the full circle of the base.

Lastly take a white satin ribbon and tie it to the base of the wreath into a bow. 

We usually go for a camping when we get the call of the wild. The need for refreshment, change, adventure and the deep desire to be close to nature drives us to go for camping. Whatever might be the reason behind camping, the bottom line is that camping is fun and everyone should go for a camping once in a while.

One of the best things of camping is that you will be able to see nature at its best, especially the wild flowers that do not need any grooming to become beautiful. Along the way you can collect those exotic wild flowers and make a small wreath out of them at the end of the day. They will serve as perfect souvenir of your wild days.

To make this wreath you will not need any of those wreath-making tools like wire wreath frame or floral pins etc. This wreath is fully fledged natural and wild as your camping.

So in order make this camping wreath the first thing you will need is a wreath base. To make look for branches of tree or floral branches that is green and fresh. Green branches are often very flexible. Curb this branch into two circles forming one wreath base of about 5 inches, use long green reeds to secure the ends of the branch wreath base. 

Now you have the wreath base use some dry leaves or green moss to cover the wreath, use long green grass or green reed to secure the leaves to the wreath base.

After covering the wreath base completely with leaves or dry moss, take your wild flowers and cut their stems about 3 inches from the calyx at an angle using your Swiss Knife.

Arrange the wild flowers along the base of the wreath by inserting their stems into the leaves or the moss. You may use reeds to secure the flowers more firmly to the wreath.

Your camping wreath is ready hang it on the inverted, ‘V’ above the entrance of your tent. The wreath will keep the wild animals away.

Celebrate this Friendships Day with a beautiful wreath of pink and yellow roses. The two flowers will make the celebration more meaningful as both the pink and the yellow roses symbolize friendship and care. Making a friendship wreath will be more special than buying it, as you will be weaving the wreath not just with flowers and ribbons, but with all those happy and sad times that you and your friend have seen together.

To make this friendship day wreath you will require:

• A 14-inch wire wreath frame.
• A supply of dried bulk straw.
• Enough roses in pink and white hues to cover the wreath.
• A sharpened pencil.
• A pair of pruning shears and
• A colored ribbon to make a bow.

Following are the wreath making steps:

To start with use the pair of pruning shears to prune off the leaves and thorns of the flower. Also cut the stems of the flowers leaving only two inches of it below the calyx. If you are using fresh flowers place the flowers in a vase of cool water after pruning of the stems.

Next you will have to make a wreath using the wire wreath frame and the bulk of dry straw. So to make one, first you will have to trim the dry straws to a height of six inches. Then make bunches out of the dry straws. Place a bunch along the wire frame with the cut ends facing one direction. Secure the bunch firmly to the wreath with floral wire. In this way continue placing and securing the straw bunches until you cover the whole frame with them. By the end of it you will get a straw wreath frame.

Now to have the straw wreath base ready arrange your roses along the base. Take a sharpened pencil and poke a hole through the straw wreath base exactly on the point where you want to place your flower. Insert the floral stem through the hole and secure it firmly to the wreath base using floral wire.

Continue arranging the flowers in this way following an alternate pattern of colors, that is follow the yellow with a pink one, till you cover the whole wreath base.

To finish you can take a ribbon bow and secure it to the base of the wreath.

“We shall find peace. We shall hear angels. We shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds. “

             Anton Chekov:

Isn’t it a paradox that man has been waging wars for as long as one can remember, for the sake of peace. Civilizations were destroyed, humanity has been trampled, human dignity massacred, in the name of bringing peace. But in all the ages there were sane souls who realized the grave errors committed by their brethren. They have forever struggled to make the distracted humanity see sense, to enlighten them and bring true peace and brotherhood in the world. Peace day is celebrated on September 21 to usher peace in our strife –torn world.

With a little bit of labor make a unique peace wreath with white carnations, white roses and lovely dendrobrium orchids framed in a foliage edge. We have chosen white to highlight the message of peace. A white cut out of a dove, the symbol of peace, with a laurel leaf is the center of attraction of the wreath. The design of the wreath is meant to be unusual, so you may arrange the carnations on one half of the heart, the orchids and the roses on the other half. A variety of fresh evergreens may serve as the bed for the flowers. You may tie the roses into a bunch and arrange the orchids around it for a truly special look. However, do not restrict yourself to the materials and designs described here; spread the wings of your imagination to accommodate your fantasies.

Materials you will need:

Heart shaped Styrofoam wreath

Ivory white roses

White carnations

White Dendrobrium orchids

Foliage

Florist wire

Hot glue

Cut out of white dove.

Instructions:

Cut off the flower heads of the carnations and orchids from the stems. Trim the rose stalks to a length of 2-3 inches. Spray some water to keep them fresh.

Trim the evergreens and decorate the wreath with them. Secure them firmly with florist wire. Arrange the leaves in such a manner that they droop a bit from the wreath. Use hot glue to secure them for a longer period.

With hot glue attach the carnation heads to one half of the heart.

Tie the trimmed roses into a small bunch and using hot glue attach it to the other half of the heart.

Attach the orchid flower heads around the rose bunch to create a most spectacular yet elegant wreath.

Hang or attach the dove with hot glue right in the center of the wreath.

This thoughtful wreath is sure to convey your message o peace.