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Home » Video » P. Allen Smith Holiday Collection with Heidi Berry

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  • P. Allen Smith's Garden Home

P. Allen Smith Holiday Collection with Heidi Berry | PBS

Duration: 03:43
Program: P. Allen Smith's Garden Home

I recently took a trip to Oregon to see the Cascade Mountains -- how beautiful. There, I talked to Heidi Berry about how to assemble these beautiful wreaths and introduce you to my special Holiday Collection of fresh greenery.

Allen Smith: Boy, they are moving along. Can you believe how fast?

Heidi Berry, Berry Family of Nurseries: Isn't it fantastic?

Allen Smith: It really is. I am so happy with the way they're looking. The quality is just superb.

Heidi Berry: It is. It is. It's just an exciting time.

Allen Smith: Well, you know, the difference between how these were made, and we tried them as machine-made versus handmade. It's just so much better.

Heidi Berry: yeah, there's no comparison.

Allen Smith: You think about that 20-inch wreath without any embellishment. Thing weighs three pounds of pure noble fir.

Heidi Berry: Right. And with the hand-tying process, it looks good from every angle. It's full.

Allen Smith: The thing about it I'm excited about is the fact that everything's used. We're not wasting anything.

Heidi Berry: No, exactly. Exactly. What we are not able to use on the wreath is composted and used in the nursery mix.

Allen Smith: And the tips are gathered off a noble fir that -- the great fir in the forest will get up to about, what, 100 feet, and then we're harvesting from trees that are about 8 to, what, 40 feet?

Heidi Berry: Exactly.

Allen Smith: Yeah. And just the tips. And they grow about a foot a year, so it's all sustainable.

Heidi Berry: Exactly. So we're getting a beautiful product and doing something good for the environment at the same time.

Allen Smith: Which one out of the collection do you like the best? Have you decided which setup, which theme?

Heidi Berry: Instinctively, I like the silver. I like the silver balls and the bling, if you will, and the fact that you can add your own ribbon. It can be whimsical. It can be elegant. But the more I see them, I'm getting attached to all of them. And I can see them somewhere. And I can see them in my friends' homes and in businesses that I know and just how much it would make it feel more like Christmas.

Allen Smith: Well, you know, some of the things that we had made, which are meant to emulate natural, like, sliced oranges or small oranges or particularly the crabapples, they look so good. I'm so pleased at how they were able to mimic nature.

Heidi Berry: They do. They really look terrific. They turned out beautiful, and no one would ever know until you get right up on it.

Allen Smith: That's right. Unless you were mockingbird trying to eat it.

Heidi Berry: Then you'd be disappointed, for sure.

Allen Smith: So, you know, over here we've got all these different junipers and fir and so forth, and the aromas just incredible.

Heidi Berry: It is.

Allen Smith: But look at this. Heidi, the crabapples -- look how they pop.

Heidi Berry: They do. It really looks natural and authentic. I love it.

Allen Smith: Everything's so well-secured on it, and they just feel, just from a construction standpoint, I really -- I'm excited that we've got a product that when people order it, we know that they're going to get something of very high quality. And the sender is going to feel good about the recipient receiving something that's really beautifully made.

Heidi Berry: Exactly.

Allen Smith: Handmade.

Heidi Berry: Exactly. And it looks good from every angle. I have actually had the privilege of having one of these delivered to my home, and it is the most exciting thing at Christmastime. You know Christmas is here. It's official.

Allen Smith: It heralds the season.

Heidi Berry: Exactly. Official kickoff of Christmas when your wreath arrives.

Allen Smith: It's been a fun, fun project, and I look forward to come up with lots of other themes.

Heidi Berry: Thank you. I do, too.

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Post Date: November 29, 2010