Excerpts from :
Chapter 7 of my thread "Our Native Oregon Trees" ( Trees and Shrubs forum)
" Before she [my grandmother] had the holly tree cut down, I made some holly wreaths from her tree, using wreath rings that I got while working at one of the Brownell farms, the one outside of Carver, Oregon, where I worked for one season cutting wreath tips (a special type of the holly branch which develops after the trees are topped). Wreath tips were used for making the holly wreaths; the "regular" holly sprigs were too spiky and rigid. Bags of wreath tips were brought in to the large pole building where workers assembled the wreaths. The wreath tips were gathered in clusters and attached to the wreath rings by specialty workers using a clamp operated by a foot pedal, like an assembly line, producing various sizes of wreaths. Berry clusters were added to the wreath tip clusters during the process."
" That particular Brownell farm supplied the annual wreath which was sent to the White House in Washington D.C. every year. My foreman (Gran Lee) was the grandson of the founder of Brownell Farms, and Oregon's holly industry. We became friends and during breaks he talked about how his grandfather got the whole thing going."
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The phone number for Brownell Holly Farm is in the Verizon Yellow Pages CLACKAMAS COUNTY (Oregon) :
Brownell Holly Farm
17251 S. Clackamas River Dr., Oregon City, OR 97045
503-631-7475
I just called and left a message on their voicemail, wondering if they still sent a holly wreath to the White House in Washington, D.C. every year, like they did when I worked there in the early 1970s. So far, at 8:15 AM (25 December 2019) no return call from anyone there. At least I know that the phone number is still a good one, and I'm pretty sure that someone will return my call later. When they do, I will post a short summary of the conversation here.
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Brownell Holly Farm website >
https://brownellhollyfarms.com
Here are images that I scooped from Google Images of Brownell Holly Farm :
A suggested display for your wreath.
A wreath ready to be shipped.
A box of holly cuttings for making your own wreath.
The Brownell Family.
Harvesting wreath cuttings and wreath tips, my job when I was working there.
A wire wreath wring used by Brownell Farms for making holly wreaths. A cluster of wreath tips and holly berries were placed at each place where the "U" shaped piece is welded onto the circular ring, and then a clamp, operated by a worker, clamps the cluster firmly in place. There were several different sizes of wreath rings, ranging from about 10" diameter to 24" diameter or more.
