We welcome feedback from our wreath buyers.  Obviously we love hearing that the product delivered is superb, but we also know that there are years the customer may be dissatisfied for one reason or another.  We can sometimes tell the problem by reading between the lines of this year’s order – “small bow, please” means we oversized the bow last year.  In the order shown below, we were asked to “very fully decorate” the wreath.  Clearly we erred on the minimalist side last year.  We got a call following delivery – “Best wreath ever!”

Delivering our wreaths is just as much a work of art as decorating our wreaths.  In this instance, a customer requesting a cream bow and copper accented wreath had failed to remember to remind her housekeeper to answer the door when we buzzed.  We returned to home base with the wreath, and telephoned.  The buyer said she was definitely there now, if we could return, which we did.  Needless to say, she wasn’t there.  We called again, from the address, and she instructed the crew to leave the wreath in the vestibule.  Since there was a nail, we hung the wreath on a nail beside the front door.  At 8:30 pm, our Delivery Chair received a call asking when we were delivering the wreath.  We were naturally convinced the wreath had been stolen, but the deliverer decided to go back to the address the next morning to check.  The wreath was there, right on the nail.  Following a few more calls, the owner repeated her assurance that the wreath was not there, and now we began to question our sanity.  So back again (fifth time) we went and rang the bell.  The customer’s husband was home, and was shown the wreath, hanging beside the door.  He admitted he never thought to look there.  Happy holidays to all our delivery crew – they are the best, most competent, and most even tempered of us all.

While we love to promote our new designers, as yesterday’s post showed, we always pay tribute to our experienced ones, who each year mentor and train our “first years” by teaching them balance, color harmony, and mechanical techniques.  We rarely identify our decorators to the public, for good reason.  Special requests by customers for one decorator or another can overburden the system, and there is the opportunity to receive a wonderful surprise each year if the designer changes.  The customer here ordered a wreath with burgundy and gold bow and gold accents.  A very experienced and loyal designer created the wreath below.

Our veteran decorators are thrilled each year to discover new talent.  Members try their hands at decorating for the first time and bring their unique perspectives to our materials.  This season a brand new member took charge of a ribbon style we’ve never offered in the past.  The ribbon was wide, with a crocheted look and openings large enough to tuck glass balls inside.  The customer asked for a bright silver accented outdoor wreath which would be visible from a distance since it would be hung in a cemetery.  This one will gleam, without a doubt.

Today’s wreath shows that simple design can be spectacular.  Not that this wreath was simple to make.  If you look closely, you’ll see various greens enriching the basic balsam, and the positioning of the very dramatic bow is echoed by the sprays of gold pearls.  The designer names each of her wreaths, and this one is Harlequin.

We generally don’t disclose names of clients, but in this case the client’s identity is key to understanding the design.  King’s Chapel maintains administrative offices on Beacon Street, and wished to hang a matched pair of wreaths with an Advent purple color theme.  We purchase many burgundy ribbons in preparation for wreath week, but our supply of purple was, bluntly, non-existent.  A trip to Jacobson’s Supply on Albany Street yielded this purple and green ribbon, which was either going to be wildly successful or just plain awful.  Our mother and daughter team of designers accented the wreaths with juniper, white pine, gold painted lotus pods, pine cones, and pomegranates, and tucked in sprigs of purple eucalyptus to tie in the purple color.  Wildly successful, definitely.

As you are no doubt aware, members of The Garden Club of the Back Bay completed the club’s annual Holiday Wreath sale on Thursday, December 4.  For those who missed the opportunity to purchase one of our custom designed wreaths, email info@bostonflora.com with your name and address, and we’ll put you on the 2015 order form mailing list. From now through the New Year, we’ll showcase photographs of selected wreaths produced this year by our talented volunteers, with an accompanying story.  This feature, which we began a few years ago, has become immensely popular across the country – we know because we can track the numbers of “unique users” on this site.  Last season we added a second feature on our Facebook page, aptly named the Facebook Wreath of the Day.  If you use Facebook, please “Like” The Garden Club of the Back Bay, and pictures will appear on your news feed.

Story Number One begins at the beginning.  A week before our project was scheduled to start, our co-chair Margaret Pokorny received a call from our greens supplier warning her that the delivery of greens would be delayed due to the heavy early snowstorms in Canada and upstate New York.  Workers were unable to gather branches in the deep snow, and supply trucks, stuck for days in bad weather, were behind schedule.  We have our workers and our space rental for a limited time, not to mention the chaos which could result trying to reschedule deliveries to our loyal customers.  Various schemes of procurement were discussed, and we thank Pat Riccardi of Riccardi Wholesale Flowers for managing to deliver our entire order on Monday morning, after driving North to rescue the project.  Pat, the gold, green and yellow wreath below is dedicated to you.