We hope you have enjoyed seeing The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s holiday wreaths featured this month. You’ll see more next fall when we kick off our Wreath Sale for 2011 – after all, we made 246 fully decorated wreaths this year, so naturally there are many more to be showcased. For now, we wish you all a healthy and prosperous New Year.
The customer asked for white and silver, and this wreath shows what a bit of silver paint can do for the most mundane materials. Sweet gum balls, milkweed pods, pine cones and teasel were sprayed, the underlying balsam was enhanced with some blue spruce, and sprays of artificial pearls were strategically added to a pretty silver and white ribbon, for a very frosty look.
Sometimes a ribbon is so entrancing that the decorator just wants to showcase it. Here, a beautiful gauzy gold stripe is surrounded by a plethora of gilded and natural magnolia leaves and milkweed pods, making the bow look twice the size of the original, and a simple trailing of eucalyptus pods swings around the opposite side for rhythm.
One of our most loyal volunteers, a very accomplished floral designer, has for years declined to decorate, preferring instead to organize materials, sweep the floor, and generally make herself useful in any number of other ways. We always knew we were losing a valuable asset, but no amount of cajoling was effective, until this year, when the combination of being oversold and pressed for time, along with the appearance of this fabulous acid green ribbon and peacock feather accessories, convinced her to try her hand. The result (one of a matched pair, shown below) was so spectacular that one of the project co-chairs switched the tags so these could go home with her. The original client was sent an equally beautiful, but perhaps not so inventive, pair of wreaths.
This wreath was designed for a single guy who didn’t want anything too “weird” – no feathers, no flowers, strong design, for a condominium done primarily in earth tones. The decorator rose to the task with this beautiful bronze design, with only the barest touch of a deep coppery red, in the rose hips and glass balls.
One of our most elegant ribbons this year was a deep, deep burgundy – almost black – with gold beaded edging. The designer here used dyed purple eucalyptus, baby’s breath, acorns, pine cones, and little red berries – she admitted that wiring those acorn tops was somewhat labor intensive, but the beautiful results show the time spent was worth it.
It’s sometimes difficult to mix two metallic tones, but we always want to give the customer what he or she wants. Here, the request was for a gold bow with copper accents. Last year the decorator had the identical order, and gave the wreaths a very different look, using gold tapestry ribbon and soft sheen gold and orange glass balls. This year, she decided to use yellow and orange roses, along with soft gold cones and balls, and a twinkling of glittery copper accents.
Today’s wreath is a classic, and a symbol of our wishes to you for a wonderful Christmas Day.
The customer called and asked for an Advent purple bow with silver accents. We knew we had some purple ribbon, but with gold edges, so our intrepid leader Margaret Pokorny went to Jacobson’s on Albany Street to find Advent purple ribbon. Many store employees were polled to see which of the many purples qualified as Advent purple, and I believe Google Search was consulted. We wish the photograph had captured the actual color of the bow – it looks blue here, but it really is a rich, true purple. The designer was inventive, and we hope to hear some feedback from the man who ordered it!
We love this wreath, which is just over the top with materials. Designed by one of our members for her own home, she played off the silver scroll in the green ribbon with touches of silver in the branches, silver glitter spray on the lotus pods, and pieces of white birch branches (not just the bark, but whole pieces of branches – look in the middle at the bottom, just above a bouquet of roses, protea and green and melon colored glass balls.)
