At a time of year when so much in the landscape goes dormant or dies, here’s a welcome wreath that isn’t just made with Mother Nature’s seasonal scraps.

It is alive and should also thrive at Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter.

It’s a luscious wreath, filled mostly with plants that can, with a little care, thrive in a layer of moss, even as the seasons change and the holidays come and go. You just change some extra details for the occasion.

Kim Pearson is crazy about making wreaths.

A retired landscaper and active master gardener in Sonoma County, she needs something to do with her hands when the gardening season ends in November and December and darkness falls at 5 p.m. One of her favorite projects is making these living wreaths using succulents.

“It takes me out of my head,” she says, “and into another time and another era. And it’s really fun to do.

Pearson admits to being “a little crazy” when it comes to her fall obsession.

Succulent wreaths adorn her door, entryway and walls of her Santa Rosa home, where carefully displayed collections of natural treasures like shells, rocks, seeds and acorns are everywhere.

On November 20, Pearson will host a workshop on making succulent wreaths. The class will take place at the Sebastopol Arts Center and the cost of $75 covers all materials so everyone leaves with a living crown.

“The crown will last a year if you treat it well,” she said. “And if you need to, you can put new succulents in there. I usually make a new one every year because they start to look tired toward the end of the year.”

Pearson can easily put one together in 30 minutes to an hour.

Once you get the hang of it, it’s not a one-day project, but rather something you can – with the right materials – put together quickly before Thanksgiving to warmly greet the guests arriving at your door for the feast or other holiday festivities.

They also make a lovely hostess gift or homemade gifts for friends, and you don’t need advanced craft skills to make one.

Pearson loves all kinds of crowns. But a living succulent wreath retains its luster longer. Pine branches, like Christmas trees, appear to be at their peak after three to four weeks.

“This whole thing about dropped needles is driving me crazy,” she says with a laugh.

How to do it

Pearson starts with a premade grapevine wreath, or other wrapped vine shaped like a wreath, available at craft stores.

She adds a thick piece of sphagnum moss, sold at garden centers, around the bottom of the crown, usually around the lower third. Pearson uses green floral wire to hold the various elements in place.

You could cover the entire wreath with succulents, Pearson said, but that’s labor-intensive and requires many more plants.

You can still create a pretty wreath by decorating just the bottom third with live plants. You can add other clever decorations on top later and change them up for different holidays or seasons.

Spread the foam thick, wrap it and distribute it around the bottom of the wreath form. Secure the foam tightly with green floral/craft wire (22 gauge). The succulents will root and be able to live in the moss for a few years, Pearson said.

“I hold it really tight. The reason is if it’s really loose and floppy, everything will fall out,” she explained.

For your plants, choose cuttings from a variety of small, rosette-shaped succulents.

Pearson said the rosettes fit more easily and will not grow and come out of the arrangement. The varieties she uses include Echeveria imbricata, Echeveria ‘After Glow’, Echeveria elegans, Sempervivum arachnoideum, Jovibarba, Graptopetaluma and Aeonium haworthii. It fills spaces with Sedum ‘Angelina’, Sedum rubrotinctum, Crassula ‘Red Tips’, Cassula tetragona and Senecio.

Pearson suggests using a bamboo stick or chopstick to create a recessed planting area in which to place the short stem — about three-quarters of an inch — of each rosette. (Small pliers also work.)

She secures the cut with floral pins, wire, hot glue or Aileen’s clear glue. The glue will hold the plant long enough for it to take root without damaging it. Arrange them close together for the best effect and most effective water retention.

She could use a Crassula as a filler. They tend to grow longer and taller and look great in the background. You can arrange them so they grow upward along the crown or replace them if they last a long time.

You can snuggle up among succulents, whatever strikes your fancy or whatever you have available, such as cypress cones, pinecones, acorns and other fall items found in the landscape.

You can also gather and press gold or red fall leaves to tuck them in at the top for a pop of color. Easy-to-find items outdoors now include eucalyptus pods, redwood pods, acorns, and the rose-shaped cones of the deodora cedar.

Pearson also likes to add a lichen-covered branch or twig diagonally across the top of the wreath for added ornamentation. But you can put anything you want on top to signal the season, from a small sign to a string of Christmas lights.

To care for your living crown and keep it alive, give it plenty of bright, indirect light. You can leave it on your door on an interior wall for a while but also move it outside to chase away sunlight all year round.

Water your wreath by misting it thoroughly so that the moss is wet. Or submerge it in water for a few minutes about once a week or two, letting the moss dry completely between waterings.

You can tell if it is dry by the weight. Fertilize the roots (the leaves will not completely absorb the fertilizer) once a month from spring to fall with 1/4 organic liquid fertilizer.

Cut off any long growth and tuck it into the moss if necessary so the plant grows flat to the root.

Use floral pins or Aileen’s Clear Sticky Glue to reattach the cuttings if necessary. You can also change out any plants that aren’t looking good to keep your wreath looking fresh all year long.

Contact editor Meg McConahey at [email protected].