Wreath
Masters

2021

The Official California Wreath Competition

The Challenge:
make a wreath with California native plants

Wreath Masters is back for season 2! This festive competition invites you—as well as botanic gardens, nurseries, CNPS chapters and other partners—to create  and compete with wreaths made with California native plants. With six categories, we invite you to craft a wreath as we celebrate the seasonal beauty of California’s plants in our daily lives together. In its first year in 2020, over 150 wreaths were created for Wreath Masters. This year, we are hosting public workshops, virtual demonstrations and more. Artist Justina Freel has created the joyous art for Wreath Masters 2021. Category winners will receive a limited edition, gold foil print of the manzanita wreath shown above as well as other glorious prizes! The Best in Show winner will receive an incredible paper silhouette, an original work of art, by Justina. This winter, bring home the beauty of native plants and join in the Wreath Masters fun!

Watch the recorded awards show!

Competition Overview

Criteria

Any native plant included in the wreath comes from a cultivated source.

Wreaths need to be composed of at least 51% California native plants.

Submissions

Friday, November 5 –
Sunday, December 5

How do I submit? Anyone in California can submit a wreath to Wreath Masters! On Friday November 5, you will be able to access a submission form on this webpage to submit your wreath. When submitting, you can note if you’d like to officially represent a competing organization.

Live Awards Show

Thursday, December 16

Watch the recorded virtual awards show where celebrity judges decided category winners! All category winners received a CNPS membership, a $50 CNPS gift card and a limited edition, foil print of Justina Freel’s manzanita wreath artwork. The Best in Show won Justina’s framed paper silhouette wreath, an original work of art.

Public Workshops

New this year:
Chapter and partner wreath workshops!

Several participating CNPS chapters and partners hosted public wreath-making workshops this November.

Category Winners

Most “I want to hang this on my door”

Judges can interpret this subjectively, but this category is designed for traditionally beautiful wreaths.

Hannah Melde @golden_heron of Artemisia Nursery

Most avant-garden

This category is designed for wreaths that are bold, expressive and/or push the boundaries of what we expect out of wreaths.

Stephanie McKenna @steph.kenna of CNPS East Bay Chapter

Kid’s category

This category is designed for participants that are under the age of 18.

M.M. Lara, age 8

Most naturalistic

This category is designed for wreaths that showcase and highlight the intrinsic beauty of California native plants.

Allison Fluty of Grassroots Ecology Nursery

Most whimsical

There will always be floral artists that want to “put a bird on it.” This category is for those wonderfully tacky, delightfully fun wreaths with character.

Judy Moffet of California Botanic Garden

Best in show

The coveted prize, the end-all-be-all, the highest accolade! All category submissions will be considered for “Best in Show.”

Stephanie McKenna @steph.kenna of CNPS East Bay Chapter

Competitors

You!

This year, you can submit a wreath regardless if you’re affiliated with a CNPS chapter or competing partner! When you submit a wreath, you have the option of identifying a CNPS chapter or competing partner that you’d like to proudly represent, but it’s entirely not required. If you win, you receive awards and so does the partner you’ve selected

Artemisia Nursery

Artemisia Nursery is a retail nursery in Northeast Los Angeles specializing in California native plants. We also offer a selection of succulents, heirloom veggie and herb starts, house plants, pottery, and gardening tools and supplies. We are a worker-owned small business founded by friends and fellow plant enthusiasts Nicole Calhoun and Carl Harders, with plans to become a worker-owned cooperative as we grow.

California Botanic Garden

California Botanic Garden is the largest botanic garden dedicated to California native plants, promoting botany, conservation and horticulture to inspire, inform and educate the public and scientific community about California’s native flora. The Garden is a living museum with curated collections of more than 22,000 California native plants, some of which are rare or endangered. Spread across 86 acres in Claremont, California, the Garden is located approximately 35 miles east of Los Angeles. The Garden displays about 2000 taxa of California plants and includes those native to the California Floristic Province.

California Native Plant Society

The California Native Plant Society is on a mission to save California’s native plants and places using both head and heart. CNPS brings together science, education, conservation, and gardening to power the native plant movement.

California Native Plant Society, Santa Clara Valley Chapter

The Santa Clara Valley Chapter of CNPS covers Santa Clara County and southern San Mateo County. It offers activities focusing on the many aspects of native plants, from gardening, plant identification, and photography to conservation and rare plants. Activities include talks and lectures and workshops, field trips, native plant sales, wildflower show, restoration workdays, and more.

Descanso Gardens

Descanso Gardens is a unique Southern California landscape distinguished by its specialized botanic collections, historical significance, and rare natural beauty. Our mission is to practice exemplary stewardship of Descanso’s distinctive character and assets; offer people an experience close to nature; and cultivate understanding of the natural world and people’s place in it through inspiration, education and example.

Filoli

Filoli is a vibrant landscape of the Bay Area, situated on the unceded ancestral lands of the Ramaytush Ohlone, in Woodside, California. The estate boasts 654 acres of beauty nestled along the slopes of California’s coastal range. Originally built as a private residence in 1917, Filoli was opened to the public in 1977 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Filoli is dedicated to connecting our rich history with a vibrant future through beauty, nature, and shared stories, so that one day all people will honor nature, value unique experiences, and appreciate beauty in everyday life. For more information about Filoli, visit filoli.org.

Gateway Science Museum

The Gateway Science Museum inspires the exploration of science and natural history in our region and beyond. The museum, located on the campus of California State University, Chico, includes a Native Plant Pollinator Garden and the Glenn E & Ruth Gray Cunningham Memorial Exhibit: The Foothills, encourages visitors to explore North State eco-regions and habitats. More than 100 varieties of native plants thrive in our gardens.

Grassroots Ecology

Grassroots Ecology leverages the power of volunteers to create healthy lands across Silicon Valley. We restore native plants to open spaces and neighborhoods, steward creeks and watersheds, and provide hands-on nature education.

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens is a unique natural treasure located on the bluffs of Northern California. Over the past 59 years, MCBG has cultivated a wide array of plants that are both sustainable and beautiful. Rhododendrons, camellias, and magnolias tower over displays of dahlias, begonias, and roses. MCBG stewards nationally recognized collections of conifers, heaths, and heathers. The Gardens are located at 18220 North Highway One in Fort Bragg, California. For more information call 707-964-4352, or visit www.gardenbythesea.org.

Miridae

Miridae is a mission-driven landscape architecture and construction firm that is committed to creating habitat for, and engaging people with, native plants and the wildlife they support. Miridae does this by tying together design, science, and high-quality construction to create landscapes that are beautiful, resilient, and ecologically powerful. Miridae (mīrəˌdē) is the Latin name for a family of insects known as the plant bugs,’ or mirids. These bugs have coevolved with their native hostplants for millions of years, and many of these native plants (and bugs) are included in Miridae’s designs.

Moosa Creek Nursery

Founded in 2004 by Hank and Su Kraus, Moosa Creek Nursery is the result of a passion for California native plants combined with a desire to model socially responsible business practices while healing the world one plant at a time. Moosa Creek Nursery grows over 400 species of native plants for habitat restoration projects, landscapers and provides a unique online ordering system for homeowners to select plants to purchase and pick up at their local garden centers.

Quercus Landscape Design

Quercus Landscape Design is a design & build firm, specializing in creating and caring for California native plant based landscapes in the Southern Sierra, southern Central Valley and inland California. Lawn removal, landscape installation, site plans, specialty gardening maintenance (no lawn service), consultation, CA native plant retailer, irrigation repair and more… small jobs welcome!

Sherman Library & Gardens

Sherman Library & Gardens is a vibrant cultural center of horticulture, art, and history in the heart of Corona del Mar. Visitors can explore the nationally-renowned botanic gardens, which feature a lush tropical conservatory, unique succulent garden and  gorgeous annual flower displays. The lush garden setting is host to an array of festivals, educational programs and art displays in the historic research library.  The library specializes in the history of the Pacific Southwest, with artifacts displayed through revolving exhibits in the adobe gallery.

Santa Barbara Botanic Garden

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden conserves California native plants and habitats for the health and well-being of people and the planet. Founded in 1926, the Garden was the first botanic garden in America focused exclusively on native plants and currently spans 78 acres with five miles of beautiful walking trails, an herbarium, seed bank, research labs, library, and nursery. A member of the American Alliance of Museums, the Garden is dedicated to the research, education, and conservation of California native plants.

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Theodore Payne Foundation

Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants is a force for change in Southern California. While we preserve the legacy and carry on the work of Theodore Payne — a pioneering Los Angeles nurseryman, horticulturist, and educator who was passionate about the native plants of California — our goal is to transform our region into sustainable, healthy communities. We do this by educating all people about the role native plants play in the local ecology, their place in our gardens, and how everyone can take part in making Southern California more life sustaining.

Tree of Life Nursery

Over forty years ago, Tree of Life Nursery began propagating California native plants with the notion that the developed hillsides and open spaces in the state were in desperate need of returning to their natural, beautiful forms. Today, the nursery supplies a high quality line of over 500 species and varieties for landscaping and ecological restoration at the wholesale level and retail level. Located on 40 acres of the historic Rancho Mission Viejo in San Juan Capistrano, Tree of Life Nursery, the largest native plant supplier in the state, provides a means by which California’s precious flora can return to the land.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

We protect and share more than 35 million specimens and artifacts, the largest natural and cultural history collection in the western United States. But we also explore the nature and culture that surrounds us today, both in L.A. and the world. Surrounding the Natural History Museum are the Nature Gardens, 3.5 acres planted with California native plants and climate-appropriate plants from other regions, with the objective of creating a haven for urban wildlife that our scientists and the community can research, experience and learn from.

Our Judges

Jennifer Jewell

Gardener, Writer, Podcast Creator/Host
Cultivating Place
@cultivating_place

Chico

Katie Chirgotis

Floral Designer and Stylist
Eothen Floral
@eothen_

Santa Cruz

Maurice Harris

Artist, Floral Designer and Activist
Bloom & Plume
@bloomandplume

Los Angeles

Meet the artist

This year, Justina Freel created the iconic manzanita wreath design and other artworks for 2021 Wreath Masters branding. In addition, Justina has created a paper silhouette, an original work of art, for the Best in Show winner. All category winners will receive a limited edition, gold foil print of the manzanita wreath design. Justina is a botanical painter, printmaker and silhouettist who expresses the ephemeral seasonal beauty of native plants and ecosystems. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Southern California, including at the Slow Down Gallery, California Botanic Garden and the Fine Arts Club of Pasadena. Her beautiful work has been featured by Luxe Magazine Los Angeles and Traditional Home Magazine.

View her incredible work at justinafreel.com.

“Visit” the studio of artist Justina Freel! Thursday, Nov 18 | 6 pm – 7 pmg. Join us for a virtual studio tour with Justina Freel, the artist behind our Wreath Masters designs. Justina expresses the ephemeral beauty of native plants and celebrates our connections to the local environments that nourish us. On our studio visit, Justina will share her work and discuss her process.

Join the tour!

Public Workshops & Resources

On your mark! Get set! Wreath!

To help you get wreath-making this year, we are hosting public workshops and sharing some 101 resources. As workshops are scheduled, we will be posting them here. Follow our social media accounts and subscribe to our newsletter below to stay up-to-date! We hope to see you at one of our events this November.

Saturday, November 13, 2021
Location: Theodore Payne Foundation – Ed Center
Address: 10459 Tuxford St, Sun Valley, CA 91352
Time: 1:30pm to 3:30pm (PST)
Price: Theodore Payne Member: $30, General Admission: $40

 

Sunday, November 14, 2021
Location: Martial Cottle Park
Address: 5283 Snell Ave, San Jose, CA 95136
Time: 1:00pm to 3:00pm (PST)
Price: General Admission: $20

 

Saturday, November 20, 2021
Location: Sherman Library & Gardens
Address: 2647 East Coast Highway, Corona del Mar, CA 92625
Time: 10:00am to 12:00pm (PST)
Price: Sherman Library & Gardens Member: $20, General Admission: $25

 

Sunday, November 21, 2021
Location: South Coast Botanic Garden
Address: 26300 Crenshaw Blvd, Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA 90274
Time: 12:00pm to 2:00pm (PST)
Price: South Coast Botanic Garden Members: $15, General Admission: $20
How to Make a Holiday Wreath Using Plants from your Yard

This great DIY article from The Bold Italic follows Bay Area landscape designer Christopher Reynolds as he makes a wreath with California native plants. The illustration and step-by-step instructions are great!

Make Beautiful, Natural Wreaths from the Garden

This scrumptious Sunset article shares beautiful native wreaths and some great tips. Photo by Patti Bosket.

How to Make a Wreath in Any Style

Martha Stewart inspires in this classy slideshow full of beautiful wreaths and great tips.