The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
‘CHRISTMAS MEMORIES’
Garden club hosts annual holiday event Architecture inspires décor designs
UPPER GWYNEDD » Every last splash of evergreen had been finessed into place; every burst of holly, pine cone and ribbon had been artfully appointed with jaw-dropping clarity.
Showtime comes just once a year for the Norristown Garden Club.
For the sold-out 68th Annual Holiday House Tour, titled “Christmas Memories,” it would arrive on Friday, Dec. 8 at 10 a.m., when hundreds of folks would begin pouring into five private homes in the Blue Bell and North Wales areas, as well as the historic Evans-Mumbower Mill.
As always, club members, armed with a seemingly endless cache of natural elements such as fresh flowers, fruits, vegetables and greens, split
their inventiveness between the sites, letting the architectural details inspire the individual themes from house to house.
Understated elegance was the Yuletide declaration at the home of Tim and Jamie Forsyth in Lower Gwynedd, where the decorating team, headed up by Barb Leiby and Jessica Milleo, allowed the Victorian gentility of the 1880 structure to do its share of the work naturally.
“The theme is Evergreen Manor because the house was built in the style of an English manor house,” noted club member Jill Evans Thursday.
Evans shared some surprising historical tidbits about the property that guests would learn the next day on the tour.
“Originally this was a 200-acre horse farm that included the Evans-Mumbower Mill in the parcel. In 1936 it was an equestrian day camp and the owner’s daughter, Marjorie Haines, went on to ride her horse, Flying Dutchman, in the Olympics,” Evans said.
Haines, who passed away in 2014, was the first U.S. woman to compete in Olympic equestrian, as a dressage entrant in 1952.
The Norristown Garden Club thoughtfully brought the property’s coltish legacy back to life throughout the house in some unexpected ways, including a ‘Christmas tree’ made from horseshoes soldered together outside on a patio table.
Horses’ heads fashioned from gold wire by club members Melanie and Memma Kilgannon dotted a tree in the family room, along with ‘tails’ made from sprayed pine needles.
A horse’s head, with a pine-cone eye and a plaid harness, made out of evergreens that hung outside by the driveway above a bale of hay, was a favorite of homeowner Jamie Forsyth’s.
“All the handcrafted things they made are so beautiful, but I thought that horse’s head was so creative. I wish we could keep it,” Forsyth said, laughing.
Forsyth recalled that she and her husband Tim were surprised when the Norristown Garden Club approached them about being featured on the tour.
“I didn’t know anything about the home tour or the club, so we were pleasantly surprised when they asked us,” she said. “They did such an amazing job. The house won’t ever look like this again. It looks beautiful and we’re so happy with it. I can’t even believe it’s my house.”
The Horsham native said the couple learned a little of its history when they bought the house about a year ago.
“We knew we wanted an older home with all the charm an older house brings with it,” Forsyth said.
The house is uniquely positioned on the tour as the only 19th-century home in the lineup and conforms nicely to the club’s vision of showcasing a variety of architectural styles.
“Our goal is to have an historic home, a contemporary home, a small home, a larger home, a traditional home and so forth,” Evans said. “We also attempt to choose houses that have contrasting styles of furnishings or feature colors that are different from each other. Norristown Garden Club’s tour, no matter the type of home, always emphasizes creative holiday ideas and highlights fresh flowers and greens.”
Slightly preserved magnolia leaves formed an eye-catching wreath above the mantle in the Forsyth formal dining room, where lavish floral designs featuring white Fugi mums, hydrangea, roses, St. John’s wart, juniper and yew were sure to draw a measure of fascination from visitors.
Table settings sparkled from the inviting presence of sugared pears, as cloth napkins cleverly evoked the shapes of three-dimensional Christmas trees.
With its proximity to the Forsyth home, the Evans-Mumbower Mill, a restored grist mill that was in use in the early 1800s, presented another logical stop on the tour, although it’s decorations were minimal, Evans said.
“Members of the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are participating in the Holiday House Tour, explaining the workings of the historic mill,” Evans noted. “The mill can also be visited at various times during the year.”
The sun room of the Russell family home in North Wales, which looks out on an all-seasons garden, reflected the theme “A Gardener’s Christmas” by putting into service a watering can filled with fern fronds, burgundy statice, and yew as a tree-topper. The ornaments handmade by the committee included a bird-house with a pine cone petal roof.
In keeping with the Norristown Garden Club’s ongoing desire to create arrangements that can be easily replicated by the average floral enthusiast, a pair of chunky candles in glass cylinders on a silver tray decorated with greens and a bow were up to the task.
A handmade garland on the stair railing was embellished with magnolia leaf “flowers” plucked from a tree on the property, as a fresh pineapple pulled double duty as a candle holder centerpiece in the dining room.
“A Traveler’s Christmas” was the theme of the Cronin family home in Blue Bell, where the Great Room tree cleverly conjured images of travel, including an airplane made from milkweed pods, along with 3-D stars created from maps, cutouts of trains and flowers made from the nut of the Pignot hickory.
On nearby shelves a collection of Byers’ Choice Santa figurines effortlessly ushered in their own contribution to the Christmas season.
“The Cronins have traveled extensively; the living room tree features their collection of Russian ornaments, and the dining room displays carved animals from Africa,” Evans noted. “The kitchen showcases exciting examples of Japanese holiday celebrations.”
Mixed evergreen wreaths festooned with bows were hung on outside windows, while a handmade wooden Christmas tree trimmed with tiny white lights greeted visitors at the door.
“An Orchid-Strated Christmas” lived up to its exotic name at the Gadzicki home in Blue Bell by way of an evergreen wreath adorned with delicate orchids and a variety of orchids placed throughout the house.
The living room mantel held four gold-sprayed square containers with burgundy ribbons attached to make them look like gift packages, with each holding an arrangement of greens and stark white pine cones that had been dipped in paint primer.
“This stunning and long-lasting effect could be easily replicated at home,” Evans said.
A nearby Christmas tree flaunted white pumpkin seed flowers, pine cones made from paper and other handcrafted ornaments.
Window boxes along the front walk were filled with yellow-green incense cedar and a variety of greens, as well as twigs of winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata “sparkleberry”). Gilded and burgundypainted plant materials tied with ribbons formed bouquets of sorts along the railing of the hallway stairs, while roses, stars of Bethlehem, and cranberry-colored calla lilies lit up the newel post.
“Simply Christmas” took the theme of the Root family home in Lower Gwynedd into a winsome direction, with the living room mantel featuring silver twigs, peach colored amaryllis, “greenlemonade” roses and fresh greens. The mantel in the Great Room held a series of containers holding green succulents of various sizes. Both mantels perfectly accented the gray walls of the contemporary setting.
The Christmas tree boasted icicles that were made by dipping pipe cleaners into borax. Round cylinders of red craft paper containing a water pick held fresh alstroemeria blossoms, and string Christmas balls that had been formed around a balloon completed the look.
A bit of homespun whimsy formed a vignette by the back door, where tiny decorated mittens hung on a clothesline.
The popular Holiday House Tours benefit the Norristown Garden Club’s scholarship program as well as various other educational and beautification projects in the greater Norristown community.
For more information, visit norristowngardenclub.org.