Christmas wreaths - drying oranges?

[Sue]

I have finally after years of promising, bought some cheap metal wreath rings to make lovely smelly xmas door wreaths for me and a couple of mates.
I need them as cheap as possible and am extremely lucky to have access to a few holly trees (yes I'll leave lots of berries for the birds etc) Will prune the bits off that nearly take my eyes out as I walk up the path!
I also have some conifers to trim so those bits will be there too.
Not sure I can find ivy - but hey stop rambling Sue..........

My question is - how to I dry out the oranges I bought? I have chosen small mandarins, and have seen them "scored" with those narrow peeler thingsy into star patterns on the skins, I just have a bog standard gas fan oven, so any tips much appreciated. The only ones I seem to find say I "just leave them hanging above the Aga dahling" Oh I wish!!
Should I slice them to make it easier? All ideas much appreciated. Am thinking of ginger star biscuits and conkers too? mmmm can sell them already

[shiney]

I'd like to know the answer to this as well. I am going to make a few oranges with lots of cloves in them.


I can only guess that you could cut the oranges into slices and put them in a low oven for ages to dry out.

[The Chili Monster]

Is this American site of any use?

[Christine]

We used to do this - guided by that fount of all knowledge on things Christmassy, Blue Peter. They need to dry out steadily and at a lowish temperature but as fast as possible, before they go mouldy. Rose hips or similar work well, too. If you're doing the clove thing, you use a thick needle to pierce the skin and push the cloves in before you dry the orange - it takes a LOT of cloves and patience!
If you have an airing cupboard, that will do the trick beautifully. I'm not sure that mandarins are ideal, as there is less fibre and more juice, so they may distort or get very small as they dry. If you want them to stay round as they dry, they must be hung - use a kebab skewer or crochet hook to run a thread straight through the centre and a button on the bottom to stop the thread going through the orange. Put slices of orange on foil or something else that is fluff-free and do the same. You could perch them on a radiator if you don't have an airing cupboard. The other nice warm place is on top of a fridge or freezer if it's under a counter top, as the warm air from the fridge gets trapped there.
Good luck with this - making Christmas decorations was a real joy when I was young but I never get round to doing it now.

[DaisyDaisy]

....I'm not sure that mandarins are ideal, as there is less fibre and more juice, so they may distort or get very small as they dry.....

I can confirm that they do indeed distort - many of my colleagues delight in leaving mandarins on their PC monitors for the festive period to create strange objects.

[red]

I have dried orange peel on radiators before - I made a foil hammock behind the radiator and left them there, seems to work.. maybe it will work with slices and whole oranges? made the room smell, but in a nice way.

I used the peel to put into mulled wine bags, along with other spices... again as pressies.

[Andy Hamilton]

I had a go at the reef idea, went to the local woods and got some ferns, ivy, holly and part of a pine tree. I just wrapped them all around a bent coat hanger, looks pretty good. Never thought of putting oranges on it too, on the look out for pine cones to add to it too.

[Muddypause]

I had a go at the reef idea...

Reef? Not!

What would Granny say?

[red]

bay is really good in wreaths, as it lasts throughout the festive season. Even if you don't grow bay - you can probably find someone who does and can spare some prunings.

[Paddy's mum]

Good morning all.

Sprigs of fresh rosemary are quite nice to add to Christmas wreaths, as are little bits of old hydrangea flower heads, if you haven't yet tidied them up for the winter. Really dry hydrangea can be lightly sprayed with gold paint for a festive touch.

I've been known to clip bits of just about any evergreen plant or garden shrub such as euonymous, escallonia, privet, laurel (the smaller leaves are best or use bigger ones at the back so they don't dominate) the dreaded leylandii or other conifer. Usually, any amount of ivy can be found in most places, growing up buildings or over garden walls, even up trees in the local park.

If I had to choose an absolute favourite, it would be viburnum tinus. This plant has mid to dark evergreen leaves, flat heads of pale pink buds opening to white, and is in flower at this time of the year. It is fairly common, especially in parks and municipal gardensa. In older garden books it may be called laurustinus. I cut it some days before Christmas, weave it into the wreath and it's still looking okay to the New Year.

It's even better if you can obtain an Oasis Ring from a flower or craft shop. Water the Oasis, stick all your bits in, add a candle or three and put it on the coffee table. Makes a lovely fresh centrepiece and needs almost no care. After New Year - what else .. pull out the bits, stick on the compost and put the ring away for next year!

[Martin]

dried orangy bits are great, but do be very careful with them near candles or fires - they make really good firelighters too!

[shiney]

I've made some dried orange slices yesterday. Stuck them in slow cook oven for the day and they are now finishing off on top of the fridge. They look quite good, but I used my organic oranges which were quite small to start with. Soooo, they are a bit of the small side.

I also did some oranges with cloves stuck in them and put them on the radiator. They smell divine. The other one I hung up on some florist wire and ribbon.