Summer Wreath Inspiration

Wreath making brings me a huge amount of creative joy, and over the years I've made five in total. The very first one I crocheted was the May Rose Wreath in 2012, and this was the start of a mild obsession with creating seasonal wreaths for my home. The May Rose wreath is smaller than my later ones - I used a 22cm full round ring and only half covered it with flowers as I fell in love with the colourful stripes and wanted them on show.

After the May Rose Wreath, I went on to make a slightly larger one for Christmas (blog post here) using a 35cm half-round polystyrene ring which became my preferred size. You can squeeze a surprising amount of yarny goodness onto a 35cm ring you know! 

The three wreaths above followed on from my Christmas extravaganza, from left to right ::

♥ Autmun ♥ Winter ♥ Spring ♥

So it won't come as any surprise if I tell you that last week I set off on a new yarny celebration of my favourite season.....

....Summer. Ahhh, I am such a summer-lover, and summer flowers are my very best favourite. Trouble is, there are absolutely loads of summer flowers that I love, and at the moment my visual ideas are all a bit jumbled and crowded. So I though it'd be a good idea to write this blog post as a way of emptying my mind a little and sharing the sort of images and flowers that are feeding my summer thoughts right now.

I had a quick sift back through my photo archives, which unsurprisingly have quite a number of flower images embedded in the Summer months. I am very very fond of summer annuals and usually have a splurge at our local nursery every May/June so that I can fill my back yard pots with instant, glorious colour. Marigolds, marguerites, pinks, African daisies, verbena, pelargoniums and lobelia.....I love the colours of these flowers very much.

When I think of Summer flowers, the first images that spring into my mind are of my own modest little back yard flowers.

The dinky little posies that I snip and gather each week to bring into the house are the very essence of Summer to me.....

....and I'm hoping I'll be able to capture something of this beautiful simplicity in yarn and crochet.

I'll definitely need to include some blousy roses.....

and without a doubt there must be sweet peas.

Marigolds, geraniums, nasturtiums and cosmos are also right up there on my list of floral Summer must-haves. So you can see, this summer wreath is probably going to be quite bold and bright - I'll have to try and keep it under control. Actually, scrap that. I don't think I'll bother with the control, I'll probably just go for the all-out exuberant over-the-top approach as per usual.

I was thinking about my Autumn and Winter wreaths, and how the little shots of red worked so well in each (the red toadstools in the Autumn wreath, and the bright red of the robin's breast in the Winter wreath). I was wondering and wondering what little non-floral red thing I could bring into my Summer wreath and suddenly it came to me - strawberries!! Of course!! Now I am soooooooooo excited about the idea of crocheting little strawberries for my wreath, I think they'll look really cute in amongst the flowers.

I'm also thinking I'd like to add in one or two critters too - maybe one of my little crochet bumble bees might buzz in, and I might possibly attempt to create a crochet butterfly or two.

This morning I went in search of some Summer wreath inspiration, it's always good to feed the Creative Mind when embarking on a new project....

Vintage inspired crochet wreath made by Jill Ruth

A soft Summer palette, very delicate and pretty.

A felted wreath

I can't tell you much about this as the website isn't in English, but I dearly love the little felt strawberries :)

Crochet wreath by Huckleberry Prairie

Pretty Summery colours....and more strawberries......

Silk flower wreath by Honey Bee Floral Design

I really love ranunculas, although they aren't flowers I ever have growing or in the house.

Felt and yarn wreath found on the Hative blog

There are lots of Summer wreath ideas on this blog, but this was my favourite.

Felt flowers by Rubyellen Bratcher

These pretty colours really sang out to me, although this is nothing like my own bright summer colour story. Too pretty not to share though.

Rainbow floral wreath by Agnes Blum

Now those are my colours! I love the bold rainbow brights, but also the teensy little accent flowers placed here and there.

Summer flowers by Botanical Brouhaha

Always good to look at the real thing for inspiration.

Rose wreath by Maison-des-Roses

I'm hoping to design a bigger version of my May Rose for my Summer wreath, with lots of layers of petals.

Felt leaf wreath by Curious Bloom

I know this isn't a summer wreath, but I came across it on Pinterest this morning and fell head over heels in love. Curious Bloom sells her creations via Etsy, oh they are sooooo lovely, do go and have a look. Beautiful colour inspiration.

And lastly, another non-summer wreath that's waaaaay too beautiful not to share, isn't it amazing???!! This is a living succulent wreath created by Jen Tao (@jennssuccs on Instagram), the subtle beauty of these colours absolutely knocked my socks off. If you've got a few minutes to spare, go and take a little look at Jen's instagram feed, and please don't blame me if you are suddenly struck by an overwhelming desire to fill your home with succulents. I am off to investigate these neat little growing things, I think my life needs succulents...........

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Comments

[Jacqueline]

It lifts my heart to read your blog! I can only crochet a very basic stitch but I would love to make a blanket for my mum ,her favourite flowers are lisianthus.Could you suggest any shades of wool ,hook size and how many chains? Oh and what would be the running order of the colours? i know its a big ask and you are very busy so no prob if you can't get back to me.
Thank you for inspiring me to pick up a crochet hook ! I have followed you for years.
Jacqueline xx

[CJ]

Wow, some really amazing wreaths there, yours included. All of the tiny details, they're incredible. And the succulent wreath is fantastic, what clever ideas people have! And how incredible the colours all are. I'm looking forward to the season of colourful flowers as well. Just need it to warm up a bit so that I can start planting. CJ xx

[Christina]

Those are all so beautiful!

[Thistle]

I love them all, but that succulent wreath is really stunning. I might get some succulents for in the house soon; my husband is making a plant stand for my Mother's Day gift (it was meant to be a surprise, but whoops...), and I think I want to put a shallow bowl of succulents on it. I think strawberries on the wreath is a very good idea. To me, summer is strawberries. They're my favorite food. :)

[Beth]

An inspiring post! My sister had a succulent wreath last year and loved it, and I love all the bright colors and 'yarny goodness' in your quintet of wreaths :-)

warmly,

Beth

[Amanda Derry]

Hi Lucy, I love the felt leaf wreath and am wondering if I could do something similar with crochet leaves - hmmmm, I can feel myself getting creative!!! :-)

[Kate]

So many creative people and so many beautiful wreaths. I can't wait to see what you come up with in your summer wreath. I hope to see some crocheted roses. And the strawberries are a great idea for a splash of red. Lucy, you are so inspiring with all your ideas.

[Pom Pom]

I love the felt leaf wreath! So many pretty ones! You're so right! Nature's colors give great ideas.

[Jenny]

Lovely blog Lucy so much inspiration colour creativity it does one good to dwell in all that colour. But how can we help others who live in the grey side of a difficult life .For your Yarndale event have you got a colourful fund raising project we could support ? Love Jenny x

[KIM MCAVOY]

Hi Lucy, love the blanket the 'Sarah Raven' booklet is on, looks like clusters, do you have the pattern on your webpage...
many thanks, gorgeous happy flowers, can't wait for mine to grow this summer

[Lisa from Chicago]

Will your wreath incorporate some seashells? Or perhaps is a beachy wreath a possibility for the future? :)

[Eleonora from Coastal Crochet]

Oh these wreaths are all so beautiful! Thanks for sharing. And I can't wait to see your summer wreath when it's finished 😊❤

[One-oh-four]

Lovely pictures and all very inspirinG. I'm sure your final design will be fabulous, although it seems a bit strange to be thinking of Summer when Spring still seems reluctant to show its face - hail again today, torrential rain at teatime and a biting wind.....thank goodness for the daffodils brightening up the garden:)

[Clare]

Hi Lucy! My little boys have gone mad for cactii and succulents! Who knew they had such pretty tiaras of flowers in hot pink?? We have them growing in Whittard chip and dip bowls I've hoovered up off ebay - it's hard to resist!!! Enjoy! They are great plants for kids xxx