Make Your Own Country-Style Floral Sunflower Wreath

Sunflowers are one of the quintessential flowers of summer, and their rich golden petals are a great antidote to the dog days of high heat and humidity. Here, a basic grapevine wreath is trimmed with silk sunflowers, black-eyed Susans and other colorful summer flowers for an easy-to-make country-style wreath to grace your front door or walls. Customize the flower accents for your color preferences or décor, and sit back on the porch swing with a glass of lemonade to enjoy your beautiful sunflower wreath when you're done.

Materials

16" grapevine wreath
2 6-8" silk sunflower heads
2 sprays of silk black-eyed susans
2 sprays of silk orange butterfly weed
1 spool of wire edged gingham ribbon in yellow, blue and white check
1 short piece brightly colored ribbon.
Floral wire, wire cutters, scissors

Prepare the Sunflowers and other Stems

Using the wire cutters or scissors, trim the stems on the sunflowers, black eyed susans, and butterfly weed to six to 8 inches in length. Cutting the stems shorter will make it easier to weave them into the wreath. You may wish to cut the sunflower stems even shorter, as they tend to be thick, when you add them to the wreath in the next step. Save all leaf pieces to use as filler if needed.

Add the Sunflowers to the Wreath

Grapevine wreaths are rarely completely symmetrical. Rotate the wreath until it looks relatively centered and tag one end as the center top using the brightly colored ribbon. Place the two sunflower heads in the lower center of the wreath, weaving the stems into the grapevine.

Fill in with Other Flowers

Next to the sunflowers, weave in the orange butterflyweed with the sprays pointing up. Above those, place 3 black eyed susans on each side of the wreath. A touch of green will highlight the brilliant yellow of the sunflowers, so add a few leaves around the blossoms. If you're happy with the arrangement, make it a little more secure. Starting at one grouping of black eyed susans, loop the floral wire around the stems and the wreath, securing the blossoms and leaves all in place.

Add a Bow and Wire Hanger to the Wreath

Remove the marker ribbon from the top center of the wreath. Cut off a one-yard piece of the gingham ribbon. Tie a triple bow with three loops on each side. Slide a short piece of floral wire into the back of the bow and secure it to the top center of the wreath. Using a 12" piece of floral wire, pass it through several strands of grapevine in the back of the wreath at the top center. Bend it back on itself and create a loop with 3-4 thicknesses of wire for hanging. Trim the ends of the ribbon at an angle and fluff the bow after hanging.

Variations

For an all-yellow wreath substitute additional sunflowers and black eyed susans for the butterfly weed, and use a solid yellow ribbon.

For a cooler colored wreath, substitute blue-purple delphinium sprays to bring out the yellow in the sunflowers and tone down the heat.