Creekside Farms’ rustic wreaths say Monterey
Creekside Farms’ rustic wreaths say Monterey
Surrounded by the agricultural checkerboard of Greenfield is a 20-acre flower farm with rows of lavender, rosemary, yarrow and zinnia, like a little piece of Provence dropped into southern Monterey County.
Follow the heady scent of eucalyptus, Mexican sage and bay leaf into the 12,000-square-foot Creekside Farms warehouse, where artists are handcrafting “natural” wreaths from Monterey County herbs and flowers.
Creekside lets other companies mass produce the more traditional holly berry and velvet bow wreaths.
Creekside makes wreaths and garlands that say Monterey, mixing traditional evergreens with locally grown ingredients such as eucalyptus, bay, olive, Spanish moss, artichokes, California pepper berry tree, garlic or sand dollars.
“Sometimes people will send us pictures ripped out of magazines, or pictures of wreaths they took at the farmers’ markets, and we will replicate them, but with ingredients that are sturdier and will last longer,” said Teri Umbarger, Creekside’s marketing and sales director, and daughter-in-law to the owners, Carol and Larry Umbarger.
No one was making rustic, natural wreaths that could be hung year-round when Carol began planting flowers in the 1980s, drying them and selling them to local flower markets to save money for her children’s college funds.
When a friend enlisted Carol to help fill a holiday wreath order for Smith & Hawken, they combined eucalyptus leaves and pepper berries and made a natural-looking wreath.
Rodolfo Tapia, who has served as warehouse foreman since 1990, is in charge of the wreath makers, who expertly lay herbs and flowers into metal rings and cinch them closed with a foot pedal; as well as the decorators, who work at another table dipping ornamental berries and flowers into a pan of hot glue and affixing them to the wreaths.
Carol and Larry are semi-retired, living now on their King City ranch surrounded by lavender, a reminder of the blooms that put four children through college.