How to make a Christmas wreath

My self-sufficiency knows no bounds: I'm now officially a florist as well as a gardener! I got a call last week from Emma Keeling, a reporter on TV3's Campbell Live, asking if she could whizz around my garden learning how to make a Christmas wreath as part of her hilarious series on how to make your own homemade gifts. "Of course," I confidently replied, despite the fact that I've never made a Christmas wreath in my life. But how hard could it be?
As it turned out, not that hard at all - I think my first effort was actually rather spectacular, even if I do say so myself!
I made this wreath using a 25cm floral foam ring base ($25 from a florist). First off, soak the foam base in a bucket of water and then, while it's soaking, set off around your garden in search of anything that fits the festive red, white and green colour scheme.
Start off at the bottom of the wreath by poking short sprigs of foliage all the way around the outside to hide the green plastic base (imagine you are making a classic Roman wreath with bay leaves - aim for that effect). I used Viburnum tinus 'Eve Price' foliage because (a) it's reasonably stiff and doesn't wilt and (b) because it looks nice and (c) because I have lots of it in my garden and (d) because it succumbs to severe thrip damage in late summer and loses all its leaves anyway, so I figured I might as well use them before that happens.
For a bit of drama and impact, I added a trio of purple globe artichokes (I've got more artichokes than I can eat at the moment) and clusters of small apples. I actually picked the apples from a street tree planted by one of my neighbours. I could have picked the 'Gravenstein' apples from my own garden as they're about the same size, but I'm saving them because I want to make my own apple cider this summer.
For floral colour, I used 'Flower Carpet Red' roses and white hydrangeas. The hydrangea flowerheads were too big so I cut them into shorter pieces. Both the roses and the hydrangeas only last a few days in a wreath but I have plenty of both in the garden so it's no drama to replace them when they shrivel up.
Then finally, for fragrance, I added trailing stems of star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides). I planted star jasmine all the way along my front picket fence two years ago and, despite being hammered by frosts in its first year, it has finally taken off this spring. It smells so divine - it's a pleasure to come home to.