Whenever I trim my wisteria 'trees' I save the longest branches and weave them into wreath forms right onto tree limbs. During winter, I slather them with peanut butter and suet, nuts and berries, oatmeal, dried fruit, whatever's handy, and the birds feast. Occasionally I add seed heads and seed pods to them, but it's a little early for that right now. It's also too early to slather peanut butter and suet, they tend to melt in the heat. So with this latest one, I took a hint from Vic and simply slathered a scored apple, added peanut butter, raisins and oatmeal to it and added it on. When the snows melt in late winter, I'll add bits of dried grass, strings, moss, much like on the wreaths Lynn showed us. Each one lasts a year or two and then become dry and brittle and I just break them off the limb they are woven onto and toss them.
Here's one in winter, it has suet slathered on it.
And here are two more side by side this year, still drying. They are on the holly tree, same tree as the one in the snow with the cardinal.
And here's the one I just finished with the apple attached.
I've found that the more loosely woven they are, with uneven strands of vine, more birds will gather on them without fighting for feeding space. Sometimes I'll find several cardinals on one wreath.
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On the other hand, it was time to recycle a small spray of eucalyptus that I'd had around here for awhile.
I took an old store bought vine wreath and wired the eucalyptus to it, leaving the ends untucked and loose. In that spot I added the old silk rose that has a clip on it, it's from one of my hats. In October I'll unclip the rose and add a black cat that is also a clip on, and at Christmas I have a clip on glittery poinsettia that will take the place of the rose. Keeping it simple.
