Berry Wreath Garland Homemade Bird Feeder

Fall and winter seem to be wreath season. Although they can be hung any time of year, wreaths are certainly most popular when the temperatures start to drop and holidays start to pop up on the horizon. This mini-wreath garland is a pretty decoration, but it’s also a homemade bird feeder using berries from your yard.

What You’ll Need:

• Miniature grapevine wreaths (I got mine in the dollar bins at Target for 50 cents each)
• Twine (about 10 feet)
• Green floral wire
• Scissors and/or wire snips
• Fresh berries from shrubs in your garden – I used:
  • Dahoon Holly (Ilex cassine)
  • American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
  • Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)
  • Dewdrop (Duranta erecta)
  • A quick note – when choosing berries, avoid those from plants that might be invasive in your area; no need to help the birds spread the seeds far and wide. Both my camphor tree and my lantana camara were covered in berries, but since they’re invasive in Florida, I avoided using them for this project. Don’t have berries in your yard? Try these ten favorites from Birds & Blooms.

What to Do:

• Strip all the foliage from the stems holding the berries, since it will wilt quickly. You can make exceptions for holly leaves if you like, which should hold up longer.
• Lay out your berries on the wreaths until you find an arrangement you like. I found it easier to use snip the stems into short pieces rather than trying to bend them around the wreath.
• Use floral wire to attach the berries on their stems to the wreaths.
• Wrap the twine twice through the top of each wreath, spacing about a foot apart.
• Tie loops on either end of the twine for hanging, and place outside for the birds to find!

The nice thing about this project is that once the birds eat all the berries, you can “re-fill” the wreaths, or re-purpose them for another project.  Berry-eating birds to watch for include Cedar Waxwings, Northern Mockingbirds, Gray Catbirds, American Robins, and Bluebirds. What berry-eating birds visit your yard, and what shrubs do you plant to attract them? Tell us in the comments below!