All the flower and foliage ingredients were things I already had, either from my house plant collection or from the garden.

Equipment: large flat glass bowl (important because it shows off the moss well), moss, an oasis wreath.

Flowers and Foliage: some small twigs, pot plant(s) - I used a Christmas cactus, foliage to cover the base of the pot and oasis - tree ivy and strawberry tree leaves / berries from the garden and some Christmas decorations to finish it off.

Step 1: I focused on the colour first. The red leaves and orange / red flowers of my cactus were the starting point - they go well with the berries on the strawberry tree. Add in the interesting texture of the holly seed heads, spray painted copper to fit in with the colour scheme. This is easy to do: use a poo bag to hold each ivy branch (make sure the leaves and your hand are covered) and just spray paint the seed head. This moss is green - you can also get brown, white and red moss as well.

Step 2: Use a low, flat bowl, preferably glass. Line the whole of the bowl (bottom and up the sides) with the moss. Then place the wreath on top of it (wet if you are using fresh leaves) and then fill the centre of the wreath with your pot plants.

Step 3: Use the twigs to define the height and space of the arrangement. By mixing the angles (vertical, diagonal and horizontal) you can establish the overall mass of the design and play with the proportions. My twigs are spray painted copper to get the tone / colour right.

Step 4: add the foliage to the oasis. The main objective should be simplicity: enough to disguise the pot and the oasis, but to always keep the pot plants and the lovely moss as the main focus of the arrangement. I didn’t get this step right: I used too much foliage and the berries divert attention away from the main feature plant. I have also covered up all the moss - it is barely visible. The end result is more Tropical abundance than tasteful Advent.

Step 5: add some small decorations for emphasis. I used some small bunches of faux acorns , but they are lost amongst the much brighter berries. Our tutor added candles as well, but I am reluctant to mix candles and ivy together - it would be an explosive mix.

The overall affect is a busy, showy tropical arrangement and looks very festive. It doesn’t really fit the original Advent brief, but is a good experiment on different ways of using a pot plant, moss and a wreath this way. This is a simple arrangement to do, and very effective.

I will need to wet the oasis daily to keep the foliage and berries going for as long as possible, but if you use dried or artificial foliage then it is an arrangement that will keep for weeks. You would only need to water the pot plants.

Note: I keep the pot plants in their pots so that I can easily swap them out if they droop or do not like the central heated rooms at home. Or if you want to change the colour scheme for Christmas.