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Published Saturday, November 27, 2010 in Local

Master gardeners making wreaths to fund scholarships

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Newnan Times-Herald

Coweta County's master gardeners are hard at work at the Coweta County Fairgrounds helping bring the sweet scent of Christmas to Coweta homes and businesses.

For the past several years, local master gardeners have gathered to turn Fraser fir trees into fresh-cut, handmade Christmas wreaths.

The wreaths are sold to benefit the Coweta Master Gardener Association. The wreath sale is one of three fundraisers for the association; the other two are the garden tour and plant sale. The association donates money for scholarships and to the Coweta County 4-H and Coweta Extension Office.

The wreaths, adorned with ribbons of various colors, depending on the purchaser's preference, sell for $25 for a small wreath and $40 for a large wreath. Many of the wreaths are sold through special orders. The master gardeners will also be at Newnan's Market Day on Dec. 4 selling the wreaths, and people wanting a wreath can also stop by the ag building at the fairgrounds while volunteers are working and pick out their favorite ribbon color. Volunteers this week will start around 8 a.m. and stay until 3 or 4 Monday through Friday.

When kept outside, the wreaths can stay green for weeks, said master gardener Irene Hamm. Hamm is allergic to the Fraser firs, so she stays busy with ribbons, straightening and fluffing the bows.

Roger Echols, president-elect of the Coweta association, believes they will make 450 wreaths this year. This is the seventh year of the wreath-making fundraiser. But this year, sales are lagging, said master gardener Sandy Smith, chairwoman of the wreath committee.

The master gardener association has donated several of the smaller wreaths to decorate the doors of the 1904 Coweta County Courthouse.

To make the wreaths, association members go to the farmers market and buy about 60 Christmas trees, and then cut them up to use their branches, Echols said. They also purchase 2-inch ribbon and make their own bows using a "Bowdabra" machine.

The wreaths are made of bundles of fir branches. Volunteers work to make the bundles uniform. They are then mounted on the metal wire frame with a crimping machine, making the wreath quite sturdy.

Master gardeners are expected to volunteer, and it also turns out to be a good time to spend together. And "we recruit our husbands as often as possible," said Ann Rouse.