The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s wreaths are known for  beautiful natural accents, but sometimes these accent items can look pretty dull in their natural state.  Too much brown, too much gray, and suddenly a wreath looks somewhat dark and dirty.  The obvious solution is to add just a bit of spray paint for brightening.  Gold has gilded appeal, and gold can be a rich, burnished amber or bright yellow, depending on the brand of paint.  Silver can look like platinum, or can look like battleship gray if we’re not careful.  No one wants a wreath that looks like a radiator.  Copper is especially effective with some of our plaid bows, and even a clear glaze can make a dull cone look shiny and iced.  Sometimes we roll a pine cone in a puddle of white paint for a snow tipped look, or put a bit of glitter spray on a branch.  We hope our customers don’t shy away from these effects, since we very carefully control how much we add to each wreath.  Unless a customer asked for a treasure from a pirate’s hoard, we use paint with discretion.  In order to add these colors, we set up a portable tent on a parking space at the rear of the Church, covering the ground with plastic tarps.  Boxes and aluminum disposable tins are placed there, and our decorators aren’t allowed to bring items back to the decorating room until they are thoroughly dry.  We can’t have everyone woozy from inhaling fumes.  The silver wreath below is accented with pearls and cardinals – truly a winter wonderland.

The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s wreath project heartbeat is the Assignment Desk, where decorators receive instructions enabling them to create the beautiful wreaths we sell.  The ladies at the desk must control a number of matters – they decide which wreaths are done in what order, give out the precious assignment tags and record who is doing each wreath, coordinate the bow selection if a client has chosen a specific ribbon, take in new orders, collect late payments, and oversee quality control.  There is rarely a lull.  Periodically they update the room on the number of wreaths completed, and most importantly, the number of wreaths still to be done.  When delivery deadlines approach, they make sure the wreaths are upstairs for loading or pick up. Pictured below is member Judith Fleming holding a special order (extra large) wreath destined for the lobby at 180 Beacon Street while the desk determines if the wreath is ready for its close-up.

Once orders are logged in to our data base, a flurry of paperwork begins.  Confirmatory postcards are mailed to customers reminding them of their order details, in case they need to be amended, and informing them of the day and time of delivery.  In instances where wreaths are to be picked up, we let our buyers know when the wreaths will be ready.  Assignment books, to be used on site during wreath week to keep track of orders, are prepared.  Tags to be attached to each wreath are prepared and alphabetized.  The delivery chairs prepare the duplicate paperwork needed to keep track of each order.  Lists of decorators who have clients who specially request their work are typed.  We hate to admit this, but we use a lot of paper – we do, however, use recycled paper!  The tag for the wreath pictured below indicated the client wanted a red bow with silver accents.  Since many of our red bows have a bit of gold edging, we found this particular ribbon worked well with silver.

Some materials used by The Garden Club of the Back Bay are stored in our rented storage locker from year to year, if they are in good shape and not likely to crumble to dust.  We’ve found, to our dismay, that fruit doesn’t keep well (who would have thought bugs could find there way into a baggie?) and dried herbs become too fragile after a further year of drying out.  Pine cones, however, wear like iron, and we made good use of last season’s white pine cones in the wreath pictured below.  The bright, orange-red bow was a perfect match for the holly berries, as well.

Throughout the year, members of The Garden Club of the Back Bay collect and dry flowers.  Some of us dry fruit (new method this year – cut oranges, lemons or limes thinly with a V-blade slicer, soak briefly in lemon lime soda for color retention, then dry on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat mat in a 170 degree oven until brittle.)  As fall progresses, we start collecting milk weed pods, baptisia, bark and lichen, and of course a variety of pine cones.  Just before wreath week, we cut fresh greens to augment the balsam with other interesting textures and colors.  White pine, juniper, and cedar are favorites, and we love to acquire blue spruce and variegated evergreen boughs.  In the wreath shown below, a member saved and dried flowers from her son’s October wedding, including roses from a bridesmaid’s bouquet, and fashioned a wreath for the newlyweds’ new home.

As orders come in, The Garden Club of the Back Bay wreath chairs determine what materials will be needed to execute our sales.  Basic balsam wreaths in a variety of sizes are ordered in advance, as well as some miscellaneous greens not native to New England, such as the magnolia leaves featured in the wreath below.  Wire, picks, and ribbon are also acquired from a wholesale source.  Some of us are savvy shoppers and don’t pass up a sale opportunity at places as diverse as Ocean State Job Lots, The Christmas Tree Shoppes, even eBay, our primary source for feathers.

Once our Garden Club of the Back Bay Holiday Wreath order forms are in the mail, the action begins.  Many customers – our favorite customers, naturally – shoot those order forms right back to us with a check, and they specify what they want.  Bow color is of paramount importance, of course, and if the wreath is fully decorated, we want to know about accent color preferences, and whether the wreath is destined to be hung inside or out.  All this information is logged into a database with 58 separate fields.  We can access records back to 2004.  We can tell you how many people want silver bows, how many fully decorated standard wreaths have been ordered, how many people on Marlborough Street will receive a wreath, etc.  We slice and dice the data in many different ways, and are always trying to improve the system.  Forgotten what size you ordered last year?  We can tell you.  Need the delivery between 5 and 6 only?  Can do.  Below is a wreath designed for a darker space, a vestibule which is sheltered but remains cool.  The iridescent clear and milky white balls were a perfect foil for the white ribbon which also had a rainbow sheen.