Carp Garden Services shares art of wreath making

CARP – Making your own wreath is an incredible way to add a personal touch to holiday decorating, so why not learn from those who turn Ottawa’s downtown in to a Christmas wonderland every year?

Weekends in November and December, Carp Garden Services is once again offering its popular wreath making workshops – a fun and creative opportunity to make your own long-lasting wreath or Christmas decoration to spruce up the holiday season.

 Come to Carp Garden Services winter workshops, held weekends in November and December and you will come away with a beautiful, fresh multi-species decorated wreath or planter that you will have made under expert supervision. 

Carp Garden Services owner Tim Dyer says a wreath from one of his workshops just can’t be beat.

“I think it’s the realization that we have to do this with a level of freshness and quality,” Dyer said. “we’re using four species of evergreen, and it really makes it really full and thick. The greenery is cut just a couple of days before the workshop, and it will last until Easter.”

Dyer’s wreaths use red pine, spruce, cedar and fir.

“It will last a lot longer than something you would get at Canadian Tire,” he said. “We also have pinecones and red dogwood sticks to use as ornaments. We encourage people to bring something unique of their own and we’ll help them attach it to the wreath.”

Dyer and Carp Garden Services brings a ton of experience to making fresh, beautiful decorations. Carp Garden Services is responsible for the holiday decorations found along Sussex Drive and through the courtyards between Sussex Street and the ByWard Market, bringing a magical holiday feel to Ottawa’s downtown not found anywhere else in the city. They have provided this service for the last 10 years.

“We have learned to make everything bigger and better,” Dyer said. “They can be no lower than eight feet off the ground. They have to be full of the bling to really make it stand out.”

The contract for decorating the downtown came about when they were able to provide a lot more than the previous decorator.

“We came up with a design that was four times the size of the previous one,” Dyer said. “And we would put two on each lamppost.”

Bigger is better.

Each year, Carp Garden Services provides 65 extra large swags, three 35-foot lengths of garland, five extra large wreaths and seven-foot-tall swags for the signposts at the courtyard entrances.

To maintain freshness, the team has a week-and-a-half to pull it all together and they get started immediately following Remembrance Day.

For Carp Garden Services’ wreathmaking workshops, attendees can sign up for 9 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. workshops or you can set up a private group workshop with Carp Garden Services at other times.

Christmas Workshop cost $75 plus HST per person. This includes refreshments such as hot apple cider, coffee, tea and baked goods. They are held at the Carp Observatory (2336 Craig Side Rd.). Dyer says they seem to be addictive for those who sign up.

“What happens is one person will come to a workshop,” he said. “They’ll learn how to make the most beautiful fresh Christmas wreath you have ever seen, under expert supervision. The next year they’ll bring a couple of friends. The year after that they will book a private workshop and bring some wine and snacks and make a party out of it.”

For more information, or to register for a Carp Garden Services’ wreath making workshop, click here.

You can also send Carp Garden Services an email at info@carpgardenservices.ca or phone/text Dyer at 613-913-5620 if you have any questions.

For those to busy over the holidays, you can also purchase already made wreaths and swags online from Carp Garden Services to pick up.