All the foliage used in this one is either dried or faux, which means they will easily last until Christmas, and can then be stored and re-used. There are some lovely floral decorations if you look around for them.

Equipment: a large flat glass bowl - I didn’t have one so have used a large Victorian wash bowl instead, moss (I have used white moss this time), an oasis wreath.

Flowers and Foliage: some small twigs, 3-4 white cyclamen plants, faux silk leaves, faux myrtle branches, pine cones, some Christmas decorations to finish it off.

Step 1: paint the pine cones and twigs using a copper spray paint. If you do this in a large cardboard box you will avoid spraying every thing else around you (grass, boots, the pavement, the helpful dog ……)

Step 2: Use a low, flat bowl, preferably glass. Mine is a Victorian ceramic wash stand bowl, but a glass one would display the moss better. Line the whole of the bowl (bottom and up the sides) with the moss. Then place the wreath on top of it and 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.

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 features of the arrangement. I used faux myrtle branches / berries and copper natural twigs for this. The green leaves are faux fabric with glitter on them - very pretty. I will be stocking up on these for my Christmas decorations.

Step 5: add some small decorations for emphasis. I used a lot of my copper pine cones, some faux gold acorns and some silver / gold thistle-like decorations. Other students used faux fruit, seed heads and even a small Christmas hedgehog. My favourites are some large lotus seed heads which really add to the woodland vibe. You can also add candles.

This is much more in keeping with the original woodland wreath brief, and will last easily until Christmas. Next time I will use a glass bowl and have a lot more moss showing. I have never been keen on faux plant / flower decorations but have discovered that they work really well when mixed with real plants. And you can re-use them again and again. It will be like having a dressing-up box - a treasure trove of floral decorations to choose from each time you do something new.