Take 12 extremely creative women, armed with handfuls of branches, cuttings, pine cones, ribbons and seedpods,.......add in the imaginative and talented teaching skills of Michelle Nelsen, and what do you get? Natural wreaths to make Mother Nature proud. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather today for the first of Michelle's 2009 Holiday Classes. The sun was shining, and thankfully the wind that tore through here yesterday had abated. With pruners in hand, the women ventured out to the back display garden, and then on down to the river to cut pieces of branches, milkweed pods, lavender and crab apple twigs and anything colorful that caught their eye. Back into the "green room" they carried their goodies, a nice fire in the old wood stove warming everything. With Michelle's guidance they created their masterpieces to grace their homes. One of our favorite gardeners, Alice, stopped by in the middle of the class, and had the great idea also of placing these wreaths on the fence with the holidays are over. They will be a perfect "bed making"supplier to the birds in the area. You might even find a robins nest in one of them come spring.