WREATH
MASTERS

Wreath Masters is a friendly competition between botanic gardens, nurseries, CNPS and other partners to create wreaths made with California native plants in the winter. With six potential categories and competitors across the state, we celebrated the California native plant community and the seasonal beauty of native flora in our daily lives. In its first year in 2020, CNPS members, botanic gardens and nurseries created over 150 California native plant wreaths for Wreath Masters.

Watch the recorded 2020 event! Our panel of celebrity judges joined us for a live event to determine the category winners and declare best in show! The event featured festive discussions on the artistry of California native plants and spotlights on our amazing partners.

Watch Wreath Masters 2020

Category Winners

Criteria

Courtesy of Tree of Life Nursery

51%+

Wreaths were composed of at least 51% California native plants. This was evaluated by the visible material (armatures and other internal structuring, such as wire, do not count).

Ethically sourced

Any native plant included in the wreath came from a cultivated source and was not foraged from the wild. A major message within this campaign is to deter foraging and encourage growing native plants.

Categories

Courtesy of Patti Bosket

Most "I want to hang this on my door"

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

Most naturalistic

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

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.

Kids category

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

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.

Best in show

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

Competitors

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.

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.

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.

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.

Our City Forest

Our City Forest has been Silicon Valley’s nonprofit urban forestry and environmental stewardship leader since 1994. We believe in the power of trees to turn our neighborhoods and cities from gray to green, and we believe in the power of people to help achieve this transformation.

Pine House Edible Gardens

Pine House Edible Gardens designs and installs beautiful, productive edible landscapes that provide bountiful harvests of organic fruits, vegetables, cutting flowers and herbs — and that create space for more beauty, peace and connection in our client’s lives. We also maintain gardens, harvest and process garden-grown food, or teach our clients the skills to do it themselves. As a Black woman owned business and multi-racial, queer inclusive, majority female team, we stand for more than just healthy food and beautiful landscapes — we support making gardens accessible to all through our equity pricing program and Black Sanctuary Gardens project. We believe an edible garden can be a transformative space to grow and practice the better ways and world we want for ourselves and for our communities.

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.

Meet our
Judges

Maurice Harris

Artist, Floral Designer and Activist
Bloom & Plume
@bloomandplume

Los Angeles

Katie Chirgotis

Floral Designer and Stylist
Eothen Floral
@eothen_

Santa Cruz

Jennifer Jewell

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

Chico

Resources

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.