The Garden Club of the Back Bay

Welcome new members and greet old friends at The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay’s 2012 Member Reception, to be held this year at towne stove and spirits, 900 Boylston Street, on Sunday, January 15, from 4:30 – 6:30.  This event is free to members.  Enjoy complimentary hors d’oeuvres, with a cash bar.  An rsvp is requested by January 6.  Email names to info@nabbonline.com, or call 617-247-3961.

Our final wreath of the day for this season is one of the volunteers’ favorites.  The mosaic mirror “disco ball” ribbon was the inspiration for a wild, Saturday Night Fever design which sparkles on a door between Fairfield and Gloucester on Marlborough Street, should you be walking by.  We wish you all a very happy New Year, filled with joy, and look for more “wreath talk” next autumn.

As December progresses, The Garden Club of the Back Bay wreath project wraps up with the final submission of expenses to our intrepid Treasurer, and a final mailing of bills to last minute wreath buyers who didn’t get their payments in with their orders.  We rarely have had any collection problems, but sometimes we do have to send out gentle reminders once or twice – December and January can be hectic, we know.  Once we reconcile the accounts, we’re on to our next projects – this year the Twilight Garden Party, which will raise funds for our 50 for 50 Magnolia planting celebrating our fifty year history with the planting of fifty magnolia trees throughout Back Bay.  We’ll be reporting on this in the coming months, but right now our focus remains tying up all loose ends to finish our 2011 wreath project with a healthy profit.   Every cent of net revenue goes right back into the community, so we like to know how much we have to spend.  Below is a pretty wreath with a burgundy bow that looks ready to go out for New Year’s Eve.

Wreath week is a highlight of the Garden Club of the Back Bay’s program year, for many of our members.  The companionship, added to the warm and welcoming atmosphere and the ability to create works of art, has brought back former and far-flung members each season.  Members who have moved away plan around their schedules to be able to attend.  One member, now living in Manhattan, comes up to work the front desk.  Another, from Martha’s Vineyard, booked into The College Club for the week in order to decorate.  A member from Cape Cod, unable to be here due to conflicting concert schedules with her singing group, drove up Sunday with materials from her garden.  We’ve already mentioned our Las Vegas member who mails baked goods for the volunteers.  We’ve had, in prior years, friends from Texas and California stay to help. We emphasize that volunteers need not be members of the Club – they just need to be willing workers with a good attitude and a smile.  Below is a picture of a matched pair with gold bows and gold and copper accents made for a member’s Commonwealth Avenue windows.

In addition to wreaths, The Garden Club of the Back Bay sells incredibly full poinsettia plants in three colors, red, white, and pink.  The pink color has varied from year to year, since so many new varieties are introduced to the trade each season, but we’ve tried, for the past few years, to obtain a pastel, rather than a hot, pink hue.  The plants have four major stems and are wrapped in paper for ease of transport.  Once unwrapped at home, buyers are delighted by the size and fullness of the display.  Delivering the plants when the weather is very cold is always a challenge, since these tropicals are quite sensitive to cold.  We were fortunate to experience such mild weather this December, but naturally that isn’t always the case, so we’ve become adept at dashing the plants into heated cars so they will arrive happy and healthy.  Speaking of pink, the lovely wreath below was created by one of our decorators to celebrate the birth of her first grandchild Abigail, who was born on Day Two of wreath week.

Garden Club of the Back Bay representative to The Friends of Copley Square, Bev Christians, has reminded us to remind all our readers of the tree situation at Copley Square.  She and fellow Club member and representative Rita Christensen have been working hard with the Friends group to find a solution to the dead and dying trees.  Bev writes:

A number of Garden Club members who are concerned about the diseased trees in Copley Square have asked about joining the Friends of Copley Square at this time of year when charitable contributions are made.  Please note that the Friends have set up a designated account to receive monies for tree care and replacement.  When you join, mark the check memo “Tree Fund.” Thus far, Garden Club memberships in FOCS have paid for fertilizer and biotic stress treatment to fortify blighted trees.Your memberships truly count, especially right now.  Mail your check for $50 for individual membership or $500 Singleton Society (special events) to Friends of Copley Square,  P.O Box 170124, Boston, MA 02117-0084.  

Visit www.friendsofcopleysquare.org to join or donate on line with PayPal, if you prefer.  Copley Square has, in the past, been a site for First Night ice sculptures, and in the dead of winter, the tree damage goes unnoticed.  When spring arrives, however, the extent of the problem will be readily apparent.  Please give generously.

The Garden Club of the Back Bay wishes to thank the many wreath buyers who, in addition to their orders, made a general donation to the Club.  This money is especially valuable to us because it represents a vote of confidence in all our projects.  We are a not for profit Massachusetts corporation and a 501c(3) corporation registered with the Internal Revenue Service, so contributions are tax deductible.  The price of a wreath, however, is not deductible, since one receives something of value in exchange for payment.  All donors receive a written thank you and acknowledgement of their gifts.  The wreath below, with a gold bow and red apples, symbolizes our buyers’ generosity of spirit.

The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s wreath project is one of two fundraising activities we plan each year, the other being our early summer Twilight Garden Party.  The net proceeds from wreath week are used to plant, prune, and care for the street trees of the Back Bay.  Therefore, since we wish to maximize our profits, we encourage walk in orders for wreaths with bows, or just plain wreaths.  Unfortunately, we cannot sell fully decorated wreaths during wreath week – these must be ordered in advance.  Our time at the Church is limited, and the number of fully decorated wreath orders we accept is also limited.  Many who come by are so impressed by our output that they want to buy a decorated wreath on the spot, and are disappointed.  We put names on our mailing list and those who are interested will receive an order form next fall.  If anyone reading this post wishes to be put on the mailing list, simply email info@gardenclubbackbay.org with your name and address.  The wreath below, a fantasy of copper and gold, received much attention from members and customers this year, and probably will be a much requested “look” next season.

We’ll take a one day hiatus from our breakdown of The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s holiday wreath project to wish you all a Merry Christmas.  The cheerful wreath below was delivered to a customer who asked for a bright red bow, lotus pods, and cardinals.  She received exactly what she asked for.

The Garden Club of the Back Bay’s wreath week isn’t all about decorating and delivering – we also eat well.  Early on we decided never to lose the services of a loyal volunteer because he or she needed to have lunch.  We begin each morning with coffee and tea, and a variety of muffins, scones, and coffee cakes.  Clementines and cider are available as well.  Lunch is catered in each day from a different provider, so no one is bored, and there are always vegetarian options.  Seltzers, sodas, chips (need that salt!) and snacks are plentiful.  Afternoon brings tea and cookies.  One loyal member who winters in Nevada sends homemade biscotti in a variety of flavors.  This year we even had some leftover Halloween candy bars.  No one admitted to wanting them, but they were all gone by the end of the week.  We also bring in paper goods, band aids, tissues, and Crisco for cleaning hands (rub hands stained with pine tar and sap well with the Crisco, wash with soap, and you’re good to go.)  As evening progresses, we dive back into the sandwiches or pizza, to keep up our energy levels, since our days are long.  Below is a wreath with an artichoke accent, one we dried rather than ate.

We make beautiful bows for the Garden Club of the Back Bay holiday wreaths.  We don’t skimp on the quality of ribbon, either.  All our ribbon is, at a minimum, 2 1/2 inches wide, sometimes wider, and is wired on the edges.  The cost of each roll varies, and we do try to buy on sale, often at the end of the season, but in order to keep our customers happy and our decorators intrigued, we purchase a variety of colors and patterns.  Sometimes, on the roll, our members wonder what we were thinking when we bought the ribbon.  Black and gold?  Buffalo checks?  Purple?  Polka dots?  Yet, once made up, these ribbons sparkle with life.  To see them being made, visit :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Od4RWBu6sw.     Below is a close up of one of this year’s new patterns, a sparkly red brocade over a bronze/green background.  Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee any specific design from year to year, since often the manufacturers don’t keep the same stock in production.  We do promise that all the bows will be beautiful.

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.

Sunday night before the official Wreath Week kick off is a busy time for members of The Garden Club of the Back Bay.  A small group arrives at The First Lutheran Church with cars filled with supplies.  Two or three cars have come from our storage facility with saved materials from the prior year, including tools, tables, easels and chairs.  A word about our easels – a number of years ago a member’s husband put together an easel for her to use when decorating wreaths.  Up until that time we decorated flat on tables, then hung the wreaths on hooks to check bow placement, wreath shape, and overall balance of design.  Often we had to fuss over the wreath to amend mistakes – bows placed at 11:00 rather than centered, or decorative clusters on matched pairs which simply didn’t line up.  When we saw the easel, we knew what we had to do.  Member Bev Christians offered the services of her immensely talented husband, and over one summer he hammered together fabulous folding easels large enough to hold a matched pair, with handles and hooks, yet light enough to transport easily.  We ordered more the following year, since every decorator wanted one.  Now our wreaths come out right the first time around.  Below is a matched pair on one such easel.

There are many timing factors for The Garden Club of the Back Bay to consider while preparing for wreath week.  Perhaps the most complex is the scheduling of our delivery personnel.  We deliver over two days, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with two hour delivery windows in the morning, afternoon and evening.  We like to have two to a car, a driver (to double park) and a runner (to carry the wreath to its destination.)  Our evening slot coincides with rush hour, and so that assignment is less popular with our members than the morning or afternoon time frames.  We need cars spacious enough to accommodate our wreaths without crushing.  Our favorite destinations are buildings with doormen, who are blessedly always there to accept delivery.  Sometimes a car goes back to a home more than once if the customer isn’t there, even though we’ve confirmed time of delivery in advance.  We know, life happens, and we just don’t feel comfortable leaving our beautiful creations on a doorstep.  Our decorators don’t sign up in advance – we welcome them at any time, and there is room for all at The First Lutheran Church.  We do have to schedule our hours with the Church personnel, the wreath and poinsettia drop off with our nursery, grocery and lunch deliveries, and trash pick up.  Somehow it all gets done.  The beautiful wreath pictured below, loaded with fragile dried flowers, was carefully hand carried home by the owner, so no scheduling was required.

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.

Each holiday wreath order received by The Garden Club of the Back Bay is a special order, but some are more specific than others.  For instance, a customer may request a fully decorated indoor wreath with designer’s choice bow and accents.  This leaves the design decisions to the decorator, which of course we love.  Another customer may ask for a fully decorated indoor wreath with a deep garnet bow (not burgundy, but not red) and light gold accents with lotus pods and no grasses.  Or, we may be asked to design a fully decorated outdoor wreath with a gold bow and gold accents for a windy location on a black door.    The client for the wreath pictured below, one of a matched pair, asked for a Della Robbia inspired wreath with a burgundy and gold bow.  This is one of a few examples of our use of lots of artificial materials, which was necessary in order to pull off the “look.”  The wreaths are hung high on outdoor pillars, so, from a distance, the wreaths should look quite natural.

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.