Wildey Flower Farm
If fake evergreens are to holiday decorating what McDonald’s is to food, then the Wildey Flower Farm is the go-to source for folks who want local, seasonal, sustainable greenery to dress up their homes and tables this holiday season.
After the summer growing cycle ends and the beds of sunflowers, zinnias, and cosmos are put to rest, Ed and Karen Wildey tromp through their New Richmond, Ohio, farm in search of seasonal materials for their fall and winter products. White pine, wild cedar, Norway spruce, Japanese yew, and holly, along with fragrant Frasier fir ordered from a trusted supplier, form the basis for the Wildeys’ arrangements. They forage natural elements like sweetgum and milkweed pods, buckeyes and pinecones, bittersweet and sumac, teasel and foxtail, and dried flowers like marigold and snowball viburnum. “Almost everything we use we get from the farm,” Ed says. “Anything I think might look cool, I’ll try.”
Ed, Karen, and daughters, Lillian and Rosemary, sell their handmade wreaths, centerpieces, and swags for doors and lampposts at Findlay Market on Saturdays — in the same spot where they sell lush bouquets of cut flowers from late spring through late summer. They take a few weeks off after the first hard freeze to recuperate and gather materials for their holiday business. Ed says they typically have transitional arrangements styled for fall and Thanksgiving displays, and then offer evergreen designs for the December holidays through the New Year. **Update: This article was originally published a few years back and this year Wildey Flower Farm will only be selling wreaths at Findlay Market on Saturdays & Sundays from November 28th until December, 20th.
Just as local food tastes like the climate and landscape where it’s grown, the Wildeys’ arrangements look like they came from these parts. “You can tell where you got the wreath,” Ed says. “I want the natural beauty of the materials we use to stand out, not the craftsmanship. Some wreaths look manufactured; I want these to look handmade.”
Photograph: ©2013, Natalie Jeanne
Wildey Flower Farm
New Richmond, Ohio
513.767.3324
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Findlay Market
Bryn’s long career in publishing took a left turn sometime around 2010, when she discovered the joy of food writing. Since then, she’s found professional nirvana as the editor of Edible Ohio Valley, author of The Findlay Market Cookbook, and occasional instructor at The Cooking School at Jungle Jim’s. Find her seasonal recipes at writes4food.com.
