Babylon Flowers Juliet Bennett and Eddie Sercombe create lavish festive wreaths.

Florist Juliet Bennett of Babylon Flowers hangs her copper dreamcatcher wreath from a bare winter tree.

Full Circle

As Christmas approaches at Babylon Flowers in Oxfordshire, Juliet Bennett and Eddie Sercombe turn their talents to creating sumptuous festive wreaths

Juliet’s dreamcatcher wreath, threaded with miscanthus, astilbe, teasels, pink peppercorns and dried hydrangeas.

Clockwise from right

Babylon Plants’ potted evergreens lined up for sale in front of the copper beech hedge; Juliet with dogs Peggy and Coco; The covered outdoor studio at the nursery; Florist and artist Eddie Sercombe cuts spiky teasel heads from the nursery meadow; Common reed, Phragmites australis.

Self-taught florist Juliet Bennett brings unique panache to Christmas decorations and wreaths. With fellow florist and artist Eddie Sercombe (who used to work with Damian Hirst), Juliet designs opulent wreaths using organically grown and gathered materials from wholesale plant nursery Babylon Plants, owned by her husband Rick, in Cuxham, Oxfordshire.

Rick established Babylon Plants in 1994, redeveloping four acres of derelict farmland to create an environmentally conscientious, peat-free nursery relying on green technologies and renewable energy. He supplies wildlife-friendly hardy perennials, ornamental grasses, shrubs and small trees to professional garden designers and landscapers.

Juliet left London and her profession as a milliner to join Rick and in 2007 began her floristry business. “Working with couturiers, I’d create hats and fascinators for the Chelsea set, making bespoke headpieces to match outfits for weddings or the races,” she recalls. With no florist in their village, and stock-bed flowers going begging, Juliet started by bunching up and delivering bouquets locally. “Soon I was doing wedding flowers, which called for greater variety and volume than Rick’s stock beds could provide, so I made dedicated cut-flower beds to include Ammi majus, astrantia, sweet peas, larkspur and dahlias.”

For winter, at the request of their clients, Juliet and Eddie designed a range of fresh foliage wreaths. “Rick had planted over 300 trees on the fringes of the nursery’s meadow,” says Juliet. “These were ‘imperfect specimens’, whose lack of uniformity led to rejection by clients.” Pruned each winter, these outcasts provide diverse foliage including fragrant trimmings of Monterey cypress and giant redwoods, plus the cones and berries essential for Christmas wreaths.

The meadow, strewn with teasels, grasses and reeds, provides adornments to be used with hydrangea flowerheads and architectural winter seedheads from the nursery. Using seasonal, natural materials, decorated with a milliner’s flair, Juliet’s wreaths cap them all.

For her ‘Orange Fizz’ natural outdoor wreath, Juliet uses Norway spruce, ivy, pittosporum, and fragrant oranges.

Make a Wreath Outdoor Greenery

‘ This natural outdoor wreath is green in every sense. It’s eco-friendly and compostable and is bursting with fresh foliage.

For the structure 28-inch wire wreath (reusable) Florist’s wire Compostable string Welsh sphagnum moss (sustainable) Assorted, foraged evergreen foliage To decorate Seedheads, berries, dried flowerheads (which can be spray-painted for colour coordination) and pink peppercorns (Schinus molle, from florists) Velvet ribbon (optional) Method 1. Pile damp moss onto a wire ring. Tie a 2m length of string to the ring and wind one metre around it to secure the moss. 2. Fix moss to the other side by winding the remaining metre of string in reverse. 3. Make 40 bunches of foliage, 15cm long, and tie leaving 20cm strings. 4. Lay a bunch at an angle on the outer edge and tie in. Work around and down. 5. Cover the workings by placing a second ring of inward-facing bundles. 6. Pre-wire decorative elements and push the wire through the moss to secure. 7. Strong-stemmed peppercorns can be pushed directly into the moss. 8. Make a wire hanger for the reverse.

Clockwise from top left

Suggested decorations include pine cones and pink peppercorns; Pile damp moss around the ring for longevity; Tie 40 bunches of foliage and berries to add to the ring; Follow the outer layer of bundled foliage with an inner layer to hide the workings and create fullness; Tie bunches of foliage at an angle around the wreath’s edge.

Make a Wreath Indoor Glamour

This indoor wire dreamcatcher wreath is an elaborate festive floral fascinator that can be embellished with an array of dried or fresh ingredients from the garden or home. Try pheasant feathers, plumes of grass, desiccated lotus seedheads, poppy seedheads, peppercorns, dried hydrangeas, teasels, pine cones and dried fruit slices such as apples and oranges.

Use metallic paint spray to add copper, bronze, gold or silver highlights to sepiatoned items. Decorate with velvet or silk ribbons to match your furnishings or festive theme. Position your finished wreath with care: many desiccated ingredients are flammable, and outdoors they will perish in damp conditions.

For the structure 28-inch copper wire wreath (reusable) Floristry wire

To decorate Dried hydrangea heads, pheasant feathers, alder sprigs with catkins, miscanthus, dried astilbe and pine cones Lotus seedhead Silk or velvet ribbon trim

Method The idea is to create a natural artwork with a degree of symmetry, to set off rather than cover up the metallic frame. This showpiece should have a definitive centre and span around a third of the ring. If you’re using heavy adornments, centre the decoration towards the base of the ring – lighter sprays can occupy the upper left or centre right.

1. Fasten twiggy alder stems to the frame with wire, letting them fall naturally. 2. Wire in a ‘bow’ made from plumes of miscanthus and sprays of dried astilbe to the left and right of a central point. 3. Punctuate with pheasant feathers – these are easy to secure and can be pushed in among the dried stems. 4. Cover cut stem ends with a central decoration of wired hydrangea heads, lotus seedheads, pine cones and teasels. 5. Attach a ribbon in keeping with the colour scheme and hang indoors. n

Babylon Flowers: Tel +44 (0)7958 119485; babylonflowers.co.uk Babylon Plants: Tel +44 (0)1491 614558; babylonplants.com

Clockwise from top left

Use pine cones, feathers and alder sprigs on a copper ring; Tie in the alder sprigs to create an organic crescent shape; Choose a luxurious ribbon to hang your wreath; Leave much of the copper ring exposed to complement the wreath’s colours; Place a wired selection of lotus seedheads, pine cones and teasels centrally to hide cut ends.