Summer wreaths

I have decided to stop despairing about the failures.

Instead here is a floral pivot.

Wreaths. Summer wreaths.

And the two wild raw materials on hand are lunaria seed heads (Honesty or Monnaie de Pape), and clematis. My best weeds.

I wanted to make a honesty wreath for ages, and picked heaps of the branches and shoved them into the corner of the potting shed. They get shredded by weather if left in the garden all summer.

But then couldn’t think how I was going to attach them to the metal ring. (These are huge structures which I cannot succeed in showing you. They are from large wine barrels.)

Using three lengths of wire to secure the ring to a central point that made it the perfect place to start wrapping.

I started by winding birch branches around the metal structure first. Some with leaves attached. These give enough stiff support but are supple enough that they don’t break as you wind.

And then once the whole ring was covered in green I just crammed in the lovely dried seed pods. Peeled first to remove the seeds and leave behind the electric silver.

I attached the ring to the pergola in the courtyard so I could work my way around at a comfortable height.

And then climbed the tallest ladder and fixed it to the high beam in the bread oven.

I have cropped that shot judiciously so you don’t see the cobwebs high up on this four metre wall. Nor the mess below.

Oh, go on. (I swept.)

To the left some alliums drying.

Still life with light switches.

To the right are the two gates drying, ready to try and deter the badgers. They need their metal mesh on the top part, but on the inside so the badgers don’t just rip them off their nails.

It is a daily battle as they work their way along my fences searching for weak spots.

This week’s tally..

Metal stakes well hammered in a few inches apart seems to be the only deterrent. I’ll be dreaming of barbed wire next.

To take my mind off the badger carnage I spotted a long tendril of wild clematis in flower on my walk this morning. They are often flowering way up high in massive chestnut trees. So this tendril was a bonus. It was snaking along the grass near the letter box.

I’m curious to see if it dies politely and I get a fetching dessicated display.

In this heat that will probably only take a week.