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| Finished Tree without Decorations |
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| Added Eucalyptus and Teasel to the Bare Spots |
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| Finished Tree in the Dining Room |
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| A Little Better View |
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| A Closeup of the Branches |
Artemisia Tree
Materials needed:
artemisia (Silver King); you will need almost half a bushel (2 bags from Bed, Bath & Beyond)
6-inch Styrofoam cone
clippers or shears
small pinecones (cones from spruce or hemlock are a good size)
bittersweet, pepper berries, or rose hips
dried flowers such as bachelor button, delphinium, everlasting, oregano,
pearly everlasting, statice, tansy, yarrow
tiny bird figurines
small bells
fine florist wire or a hot-glue gun
Insert the handsomest pointed artemisia spike (about 6 to 7 inches long) into the top of the cone. Decide on a good length of the bottom branches; some people prefer a fat tree, others a skinny one. Cut 4 branches and insert them horizontally on the lowest level of the cone, roughly equidistant from one another so they divide the cone in quarters. They will guide you as you work around, filling in the bottom row entirely. Repeat the process on the next 2 rows, inserting 4 "guide" branches, then filling in. Keep turning the tree. You may want to put it on a lazy Susan as you work so that you can keep the whole shape of the tree in mind.
With the fourth row, begin to angle the branches slightly upward. From that point on, each row will point increasingly upward. You should begin to lengthen the branches slightly, so that by the time you get to the top few rows, they will hug the top 7-inch branch. Your tree should be bushy and full, with no Styrofoam showing. Trim the tree with assorted decorations, using either florist wire or a hot-glue gun.
The tree should last for a few years if stored in plastic in a dry place. To refresh, give it a quick shower under a spray faucet and add a few new blossoms and branches.
Still very cold and windy here! Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be. Talk to you later.
that turned out just gorgeous, Nancy!! Stay warm hon xx
ReplyDeleteThis turned out to be very pretty, and you did a grand job creating the tree and adding your own touches to it.
ReplyDeleteVery pretty! I was going to make one out of babies breath, but it didn't happen this year. Owell, it was a good thought. :)Alyssa
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this. You did a fabulous job with it.
ReplyDeleteFlowerLady
Thanks ladies. The dining room is so much more festive now! Hope it gives you inspiration!
ReplyDeletebeautiful... love the additions. - Judith
ReplyDeleteIt was a lot of fun to decorate. Thanks for stopping by Judith!
ReplyDeleteThis is so pretty. I love how you added the dried pods and pinecones. So sweet.
ReplyDeleteThanks Carla for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful! And you are sooo right about it being a magnet for the furfaces. I'll just have to admire and enjoy yours from afar.
ReplyDeleteStay warm this weekend.
Jules
Thanks Jules! Can you just imagine any one of your cats playing with the strawflowers! Hope you dry out!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link Nancy! This is a lovely idea. I may try it with the ENORMOUS amount of artemisia I grew this year. Just wondering - is there a reason you don't make your photos larger on the blog? The small size doesn't do justice to many of your photos of your garden especially! In this case The artemisia tree is absolutely stunning in the close up. Enjoy these last few weeks of summer!
ReplyDeleteHi Barbara, I guess I don't make them bigger because I don't have a lot of storage on my laptop. Maybe that's not a good excuse anymore! I have a bit of 'Silver King' that I just cut and I'm going to try with some additions to make a tree again and I'll make the photos bigger! XO
ReplyDelete