Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

These wreaths have California flair

Wreath Masters: 'Great British Bake Off' meets California native floral design

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED DEC 11, 2020

This wreath by Fran Steinhardt is one of the entries
from Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.
(Photos courtesy CNPS)

Need fun inspiration for a wreath with a distinctly California flourish? Check out the “Wreath Masters” competition, hosted by the California Native Plant Society.

CNPS challenged botanical gardens, nurseries, society members and other partners throughout the state to create holiday wreaths made with California native plants. The competition culminates in a live event where celebrity judges — Maurice Harris of Bloom and Plume, Katie Chirgotis of Eothen Floral Studios and Chico-based garden writer Jennifer Jewell — will determine the winners in six categories, including best in show.

“We’re imagining a wild mash-up of 'Great British Bake Off' meets California native floral design, aiming to inspire Californians to consider the seasonal beauty, ecological value and horticultural merit of these amazing plants,” said David Bryant, CNPS campaigns and engagement manager and organizer of the event.

“Holiday wreaths are such a fun way to showcase California native plants — not just our conifers like pine and cedar, but Toyon berries, manzanita branches, and even plants like our succulents,” CNPS Senior Communications Director Liv O’Keeffe said. “With more than 6,000 types of native plants, California has more plants than any other state in the U.S. That certainly gives us a lot of potential inspiration!”

According to its organizers, the competition draws attention to the vibrant California native plant community. Among the rules: All wreath submissions must feature plants ethically gathered from home and private gardens. Wild foraging is prohibited.

Su Kraus at Moosa Creek Nursery, a

wholesale native plant nursery near
Escondido, fashioned this simple wreath entry.

Submissions are now available for viewing on the competition’s webpage: https://www.cnps.org/wreathmasters

The live “Wreath Masters” competition is set for 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18. Judges will pick:

Most “I want to hang this on my door”

Most avant-garden

Most whimsical

Most naturalistic

Kids category (under 18)

Best in show

To witness the judging (which should be fun), register in advance on the Wreath Masters webpage.

You’ll also find tips on how to create your own totally California wreath to celebrate the holidays.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

December Sacramento holiday decor native plants holiday events contest California Native Plant Society California natives botanical gardens wreaths

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Food in My Back Yard Series

May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

Local News

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Sites We Like

Garden Checklist for week of May 18

Get outside early in the morning while temperatures are still cool – and get to work!

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. Transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Are birds picking your fruit off trees before it’s ripe? Try hanging strips of aluminum foil on tree branches. The shiny, dangling strips help deter birds from making themselves at home.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Find our winter recipes here!