This is what was left of the golden hop,humulus lupus aureus, a lovely climber which grows beside our yellow front door. It gets cut back to the ground each year.
This is how it looked in July.
And this is how it looked by September!
I'm making wreaths with the stems while they are still flexible - one large, one small.
The shape is pretty wobbly to start with..
but with a bit of tweaking, pushing, pulling and stamping
you can knock it into shape (easier with the small one!)
With the sun on my back I spent a lovely hour or so....
noticing the toadstools, listening to the birds and thinking how I'll decorate the wreaths this year.
A few things I've learned. Dry the wreaths flat (if you hang them they become oval!). I make the basic structure then dry it till its firm before adding lots more stems (they're best kept damp) and if I want to spray them they have to dry for a few weeks first. I think they look better if the later additions are quite loose.
I made a little wreath of larch branches last year. (See here.)
I've not decided what else to do with these ones yet...
Nice problem!
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