There is still time to get your order in for a festive holiday wreath. Just click on https://bostonflora.com/shop/ Unlike past seasons, we have not bombarded you with sales pitches since our supplies are limited this year. We hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are ready to focus one final time on checking this seasonal staple off your “to do” list. Remember, we deliver in Back Bay, Beacon Hill, and the South End, and pick up is simple at The First Lutheran Church of Boston, 299 Berkeley Street. If you need more information, email info@bostonflora.com, or call 617-872-2697.
The Garden Club of the Back Bay will once again be selling gorgeous holiday wreaths, both decorated and undecorated, after a two-year hiatus due to COVID. We will be back creating at The First Lutheran Church, Boston, from December 5 – 8, and deliveries and pick up will begin in the afternoon of Tuesday, December 6 through Thursday, December 8. Responding to the new realities of social distancing, however, there are a few changes from the past.
Sales will move completely online, at https://bostonflora.com/shop/ If you absolutely must pay by check, please email info@bostonflora.com with the specifics of your order, and we will confirm availability, after which a check made out to The Garden Club of the Back Bay must be mailed to us at PO Box 991017, Boston, MA 02199.
Our offerings are streamlined. We will be selling a limited number of fully decorated standard (23” diameter) wreaths, with your choice of bow color and accent designations of Natural, Glamorous Glitz, or Designer’s Choice. Wreaths with bows and plain wreaths are available in two sizes, standard and large (29” – 30” diameter). There will be no special sizes available this year.
We are discontinuing poinsettia sales for 2022.
Prices have gone up due to the rising prices of our core supplies. We are still competitive with what local florists are charging. This is one of our two annual fundraising activities, and every penny earned goes back to the trees and neighborhood beautification. This is an all-volunteer endeavor. Prices range from $50 for a standard size undecorated wreath to $75 for a standard wreath with bow, up to $195 for a fully decorated, “museum quality” wreath. Large wreaths are $70 (undecorated) and $100 (large with large bow). Large wreaths cannot be ordered fully decorated. All wreaths will be trimmed and fluffed, with a hanging loop added for your convenience. Bows are also available in two sizes, standard ($25) and large ($30), with wires for attaching.
Because fewer decorators will be working at the Church to reduce crowding, we will be cutting off sales of fully decorated wreaths when we reach our expected capacity for fulfillment.
Confirmations of purchases and delivery times will be made by email.
For other inquiries, you may call our new phone number, 617-872-2697, but email is always preferred.
We know many of you found other sources for holiday decorations during the pandemic, but remember how beautiful our wreaths are, and the joy of having them delivered to your door.
Wishing you all the best in 2022. May we all be able to gather again safely and see each other in person. Our January tea is upcoming, for members only this year, so join us today at https://bostonflora.com/membership/
The wreath below is one more example of a 2021 Garden Club wreath. If you have been a longtime customer frustrated with our inability to sell wreaths this year, and are reading these posts, please don’t think we have been conducting a secret market – literally we only had a handful of member wreaths to show this season, done independently by a handful of decorators who remain in Back Bay in the pandemic. We are certainly happy to be able to show them off, however.
Below is a picture of a wreath captured during a recent walk through Beacon Hill. A member referred to it as the Mies van der Rohe of wreath design. The body of the wreath is closely clipped greenery, and the decorations are minimalist. We actually quite like it, but question whether our customers would be interested in such a creation, or if they would think we were being a little lazy and frugal with our decorations? Feel free to weigh in at info@bostonflora.com.
One of our most talented members created a wreath for the Marlborough Street door of one of the original Garden Club of the Back Bay members, the late Stella Trafford. Stella was known as a driving force in parks activism in the Back Bay, and did much to push the City to pay attention to an increasingly shabby situation on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, to name just one example. We are happy to see that the beautiful building where she lived is graced with one of our lovely wreaths, even in this hiatus year.
Winter fruits are festive decorations during the holidays, piled in bowls or cascading out of cornucopias, but on a wreath, artificial varieties are lighter, won’t shrivel, and won’t rot or attract bugs, all of which are benefits. We pride ourselves on our natural accents and decorations but in some cases we have to reach for plastics, glass, and glitter.
Over the years we have been fortunate to work with John Lindemann at The First Lutheran Church of Boston, who started as a parishioner, took over the management of the secular end of things at the Church, and recently moved out of state with his family. We don’t know who will be our contact person next season, but missed having the chance to say goodbye to John and thank him for his good humor and flexibility. So this post is a virtual Thank You, John, for everything,
We know. We should be kinder. Attribute our 2021 dark humor to our distress that we can’t be at The First Lutheran Church of Boston making beautiful wreaths for Boston. But the display below looks to be part of a Tim Burton movie set. Another example of Why We Decorate. Captions welcome at info@bostonflora.com.
We wish you all the very merriest of days. The Garden Club of the Back Bay thanks you all for your continued support of our Club and mission, and hope you continue to find interesting events to participate in with our website’s help during the coming year.
