Orders are coming in for our beautiful Garden Club of the Back Bay holiday wreaths, and we are busily acquiring ribbon to make the bows which grace the greenery.  This year we have purchased quality ribbon from at least five different wholesale and retail establishments, hoping to provide the widest range of choice for our customers and for our decorators.  We can never guarantee that ribbon available one year will reappear the next – sometimes the styles have been discontinued, sometimes the prices have risen out of range – but we do promise to consult with buyers to execute orders which match their expectations.  To order on line, visit https://bostonflora.com/shop/

Today’s wreath ends our 2014 Wreath of the Day feature, but be assured we’ll be back in December with new offerings.  The wreath pictured today is golden and prosperous, and we wish all of you a healthy and happy year ahead.

One designer is annually given complete design freedom by a wreath project co-chair, who hangs her wreath in a very chilly vestibule where it stays for months, usually in pristine condition.  Since the wreath life extends past the holidays, a more neutral color scheme is often employed.  The rhinestone swirly geegaws on the bottom reminded us of snakes, and this wreath became “the Medusa wreath,” a perfect New Year’s Eve feature for Wreath of the Day.

The designer of the wreath pictured below described the thought process behind the sweeping arc of cones and berries as a depiction of the circle of life. The male client asked for a red bow and traditional, conservative embellishments.  He was overwhelmed, in a good way, when he saw the finished product.

A customer in New York, a Yale graduate, sent a gift wreath this year to friends in Boston who are graduates of University of Pennsylvania and affiliated now with Boston University.  Well, University of Pennsylvania’s colors are blue and red, Yale is blue, and BU is red, so we came up with a wreath accented in red and blue.  We kept it from becoming a Fourth of July wreath by adding gold accents to the blueberries, and doubled the red bow with a lining of sheer blue ribbon.  Spectacular!

We are always happy to receive a wreath order from the Badminton and Tennis Club on Hemenway Street, and the order generally allows us to do what we like.  Our designer this year decided to create tiny shuttlecocks out of silver paper fans and glass balls, also using a polka dot ribbon and lotus pods to reflect tennis balls, and a different ribbon for the streamers, indicating the net.  Truly clever, and beautiful.

The Garden Club of the Back Bay gives a number of wreath gift certificates to area not for profit organizations during the year, and one project we’re especially proud of is supporting The Blossom Fund of The Boston Committee of the GCA (www.bostoncommittee.org) with certificates for each member club.  The individual clubs raffle off their certificates to their members, and the proceeds are contributed to The Blossom Fund, which in turn awards grants to public horticultural projects in the Boston metroplex area.  Many winners return as customers after receiving wreaths such as the one shown below.

One of the wreath chairs took a bad fall going home after wreath making, and fell into the fence in front of the French Library.  The resulting head wound took three stitches to close.   Luckily there was no lasting injury other than a very black and swollen eye. A very kind fellow decorator stayed with her at Beth Israel until midnight.  Both were back at work the next day, but the injured decorator’s next wreath took a decidedly dark and macabre turn.  Since it was for her own family, our crack quality control crew said nothing at all.

Just one post today, wishing all our readers a very Merry Christmas, surrounded by family and friends.