Blooms, pods, shells, husks and grains that flourish and fade within Virginia’s seasonal cycles become a lasting landscape snapshot when woven into wreaths.

A trail ride, beach walk or even a quick trip to the store is an expedition for natural wreath designers whose art form is inspired by the environment.

“I’ll see something that can be used to make a wreath, and pull over with my kids in the car,” said wreath designer Agnes von Stillfried of King and Queen County. “They say, ‘Not again! Mom, you’re so weird!’”

Also known as Virginia Wreath Maker, Stillfried’s one-of-a-kind designs demand up-close inspection of materials that have undergone aesthetic transformation.

“What inspires me—when you have to look twice to see what kind of material it is,” Stillfried said.

Sliced magnolia pods become miniature pineapples. Pecan shells are painted like delicate robin eggs. Spring daisies are fashioned from slices of hand-painted corn cobs.
Polished acorns simulate a shiny string of pearls. Fuzzy wisteria pods resemble reptile skin.

Stillfried’s favorite wreath is a thick lock of weeping lovegrass braided like a head of hair.

“It’s fun to make and so sturdy,” she said. “If you buy it today, it will be there in 15 years because it’s a heavy-duty sea grass—an amazing material.”

Wild mushrooms, tree bark, pine-needle ropes, turkey feathers and the rough underside of magnolia leaves lend organic textures to Stillfried’s original designs sold on her website.

“All of the stuff I work with is from Virginia,” Stillfried said. “Farmer friends let me cut grains like wheat and barley. And my dried okra was grown by Jim Woolford, a retired Farm Bureau agent.”

Virginia’s natural scenes are summarized in the wreaths, which historically represent the unending cycle of life. While some of Stillfried’s materials are preserved in a static state, others are intended to dance with atmospheric fluctuations.

“The pinecones will close up with the rain and open with the sun,” she explained. “The moss gets dry when the sun beats on it, but when it’s wet, it gets nice and green.”

Stillfried, who holds a master’s degree in floral design, also creates traditional greenery wreaths.

“For me, good technique is important,” she said. “It needs to be made so it’s holding up at least through the holidays.”

Traditional wreath maker Roberta Clouse at Clouse’s Pine Hill Christmas Tree Farm has mastered her technique for selecting greens arranged into fragrant 18-inch wreaths that enhance front stoops throughout Northern Virginia.

She gathers an assortment of fresh-cut fir and pine greenery, then overlays them in sections of a circle, clamped by metal claws with the stomp of a foot pedal.

“I’m not that artsy-crafty!” Clouse insisted. “But I do get a little picky with my greens. I like the look of the mixed greens because it adds more dimension.”

Customers often pick up a seasonal wreath when they cut Christmas trees at the farm. Clouse can create up to four wreaths an hour, and she made more than 200 of them last season.

“They will last through Christmas, depending on how you treat them,” Clouse said. “Between a storm door and a front door with the sun shining on it—they’ll be cooked in about a week. But if you hang it outside without too much direct sunlight, it will last through February!”