Garden club members assemble wreaths as BGC celebrates its 50th annual Greens Day at Westmoreland Sanctuary Nature Preserve and Museum. Above, Liza Clymer, left and Lindsay Matthew, co-chair of Greens Day, right. Below, For the second year in a row, the Bedford Garden Club has funded all the lamppost wreaths in Bedford Village, an effort organized by Brett Cameron, club member and president of the Bedford Village Business Association. Leslie Regan and Tania Edwards of the BGC in front of Historical Hall. Bedford Garden Club Greens Day wreath on the Sutton Clock Tower. JOYCE CORRIGAN PHOTOS
By JOYCE CORRIGAN
Only a Scrooge wouldn’t warm to the sight of a glowing holiday wreath. Well, wait — Scrooge did exactly that in the next to last chapter of “A Christmas Carol.” Charles Dickens describes the Ghost of Christmas Present as wearing on his head “no other covering than a holly wreath set here and there with shining icicles.” This in addition to the ghost’s “genial face,” “sparkling eye” and “cheery voice” prompted Scrooge’s ultimate transformation from cold-hearted miser to big-hearted philanthropist, handing out turkeys to strangers, donating to charity, becoming a second father to sickly Tiny Tim, and, in general, embodying the spirit of the season.
Wearing a wreath of greens on one’s head dates to ancient Greek and Roman times — although who hasn’t seen a favorite uncle uphold the tradition after one too many bourbon eggnogs?
That the annual holiday wreath ritual has endured and evolved through the ages, seems to stem from its shape: a sacred circle. In religious traditions, it symbolizes God’s infinite love and grace and everlasting life, while in pre-Christian Germanic and Scandinavian cultures, people would hang evergreen wreaths on their doors during the dead of winter. The “mysterious” ever-lasting green branches became an emblem of the miracle of survival during the harsh, frigid months, with the promise of new green growth when spring arrives.
Last week, in their own curated variation on the theme— equal parts earthly and divine customs — the Bedford Garden Club celebrated its 50th annual Greens Day at Westmoreland Sanctuary.
Officially, it’s the club’s 63rd Greens Day as the event was held in various venues before Westmoreland became the permanent home. The program is currently spearheaded by Lindsay Matthews and Leslie Wortmann, who are co-chairs of the club’s floral design committee.
On the first Wednesday of every December, teams of members donning festive apparel (these days, mostly candy-colored fleeces) encircle long wooden tables scattered with seeded eucalyptus, juniper, noble fir and magnolia that will decorate enormous, native balsam fir wreaths. Members can spend upwards of three hours imaginatively assembling and ornamenting with pinecones and handmade bows. Fortified by hot coffee and cookies, they hand-deliver the holiday decorations to such notable Bedford landmarks as Historical Hall, the Sutton Clock Tower, Community Center of Northern Westchester, Northern Westchester Hospital, Westmoreland Sanctuary and John Jay Homestead.
Reminiscing about Greens Day past is almost as much fun as decorating. Longtime BGC member and former president, Nancy Vincent, shared, “When I joined the BGC in 1975, a pickup truck full of greens, mostly hemlock, were delivered to Westmoreland on Greens Day by two members who happened to be sisters, Betsy Cole Botzow and Cammie Cole Smidt. The family property, now Cole Drive, was right down the road from Westmoreland.” The sisters’ landscaping crew cut and delivered all the greens, she said, adding, “and then we all made the wreaths from scratch.”
When BGC historian Susan West stood up to give a formal talk on the history of Greens Day, as if on cue, Westmoreland’s resident doves started cooing. The seeds for the tradition, West said, were first sown 85 years ago (not 100 years, as one member believed) when the club crafted and donated its first holiday wreath to Northern Westchester Hospital. That two of the founding members of the BGC, Eloise Luquer and Delia Marble, also happened to be founders of the Visiting Nurses Association which grew into Northern Westchester Hospital (established 1916) lends credence to the centennial theory. In any case, both hospital and garden club shared a mission of contributing to the well-being of the local community.
“The crisp cold weather is here, and our six decades-old December tradition is the perfect kick off to the holiday season,” says Heather Langham, BGC president. “Not only is community wreath-making an essential part of our club’s mission of civic engagement — here writ large and illuminated — but helping with civic beautification at holiday time is a lovely way for the BGC to show our Bedford pride.”
For West, it’s also the “chill” factor that makes Greens Day so cherished.
“This is a moment for members to come together and get creative with floral design in a completely noncompetitive environment,” she said. “There are no rules except to have fun and be merry.”
That is in sharp contrast to the high-pressure floral design shows hosted by the Garden Club of America throughout the year, in which many BGC members partake and often win.
Greens Day has been expanding its horizons.
“For the second year in a row, the Bedford Garden Club has funded all the lamppost wreaths in Bedford Village,” said Leslie Wortmann. The effort was organized by Brett Cameron, club member and president of the Bedford Village Business Association, and decorated and hung by Bedford Farms.
“We hope to donate wreaths to the village for many years to come,” Wortmann said.