With a warm, personal touch, Fox Grape Designs offers custom floral creations for weddings, events and photo shoots throughout the Central Virginia region.
Wanda Brockman is the creative force behind Fox Grape Designs and a lover of all-things flowers. “I’ve been interested in flowers since I was old enough to start walking,” she says. She’s taken her lifelong passion and turned it into a thriving floral arranging and styling business.
Brockman also runs a flower farm on her property tucked amid the Blue Ridge Mountains. In addition to selling flowers to florists and event venues, many of her home-grown blooms make their way into her unique designs and arrangements.
We’re thrilled to welcome Wanda to our flagship Caspari shop in Charlottesville, Virginia later this month for a holiday wreath-making event.
Tell us about the upcoming event on November 19th.
It’ll be a demonstration. I plan to take in some finished pieces and also demonstrate making a fresh Christmas wreath with assorted greenery and berries. I’ll have some of those on hand for people to see what types of greenery that I use in wreath-making.
What sparked your interest in floral design?
I’ve always had a passion for flowers. My mom or my grandmother (“granny”) would let me have a little plot and I would grow my own flowers. I was in a garden club when I was twelve. In our neighborhood they had a garden club, and some of the ladies formed a little garden club for the kids. That was fun, and I reflect back on lots of memories like entering the state shows.
My main interest in floral design is really foraging. You know, just seeing what’s on the roadside, in fields, what can be used organically versus just going to a florist. I enjoy seeing what’s available in the surrounding areas to incorporate in floral arranging.
Tell us about your design background.
When I was fifteen I started working at a florist in downtown Lynchburg – that’s where I really started out with floral work. And when I finished high school I went to work at another florist for a number of years. At one point I had my own florist shop. But I’ve always worked in flowers and floral arranging in some capacity.
Is there a story behind the name Fox Grape Designs?
There is! Fox Grapes are a type of wild grape that used to grow in this area. They make really good jelly. And when we had to come up with a name for the road where we used to live, I just liked the rhythm of fox grape and I said, ‘let’s call it Fox Grape Road,’ so we did. And then when we bought land and built a home and a farm, I called it Fox Grape Farm.
I’ve had my flower farm for six years now. I had sheep for twenty-three years, but I got out of that to start my flower farm.
Do you have a favorite wedding or event that you’ve worked on?
I don’t have a specific one that comes to mind, but I love designing for home weddings. They’re just so special and intimate. In fact, all three of the weddings I worked on last month were home weddings. I really enjoy that.