After pulling my advent wreath out of the cupboard this weekend I realized it was time for a new one. I bought a clear glass bowl to display soaps in but it gave me the idea to use it to hold a fresh cut herb/greens wreath. After googling for ideas I realized it was not a completely unique idea but I did put my uniqueness to it. I put some florist’s foam in the dish which is about 4 inches high. I pushed the 4 candles in the foam; it actually should be 3 purple to symbolize royalty and 1 pink that is lit the 3rd Sunday of Advent as a reminder that it is half over. For some reason I never seem to get the right candles. I then went outside to look for whatever I could find green or at least gray. I picked four small branches off a juniper bush, some thyme, rue, lavender, sage, hyssop and some beautiful red berries which I believe are from a cotoneaster bush. Following is the meaning of these herbs:

Lavender for purity, cleanliness and virtue
Sage branches represent immortality
Rue is an herb of grace used for driving away evil.
Thyme is an herb used for courage.
Hyssop is for purification

I started by putting the juniper branches into the foam and then filling in with the herbs. The berries worked great in the middle to hide the foam. I love the way it looks.