About
When Bob was inspired to buy an 11-acre piece of land in the rolling Northern Piedmont region of Virginia between Warrenton and Culpeper, he also knew he wanted an old house. Gradually he transformed both the land and the house, adding fields of flowers, an airbnb to welcome guests, a greenhouse, six hoop houses and a glorious Pavilion for weddings and events.
Today you can walk through the gardens and cut your own blossoms, buy vases and art in the gift shop, choose a succulent to take home from the greenhouse and much more. Wollam Gardens is also an Arborteum! And of course there may be cats lounging in unexpected places!
The Greenhouse was built in 1990, two years after Bob bought Wollam Gardens. It’s a magical warm place in the winter, and in the spring is chock full of seedlings and trays of plants getting ready to be moved to the field. There are a whole range of succulents, and sometimes we make terrariums; and Bob keeps tropical plants – banana plants, night-bloom cereus are two examples – that migrate outside in the summer.
Bob is the farm’s guiding light. He started growing cut flowers in 1988. with the gardening genes of his grandparents he’s turned these 11 acres into fields of beautiful varieties. He’s full of knowledge and great stories. Bob splits his time between the farm and DC where he’s resided for 33 years as a community activist, husband, and father. He is married to Anne Montgomery, a longtime friend. They were the first to be married in the farm’s pavilion in 2015. Read about his dahlia adventure in Mexico!
Bob Wollam
Christina Yantz
Custom Floral Designer
Owner
Having grown up just a couple miles away from Wollam Gardens, Christina found her place here at our farm after visiting for the first time during her very own sister's wedding held on our grounds. She comes from a family of creatives and has chosen various mediums of art to dabble in over the years. Trained and practiced in the art of sketch work and painting since young, Christina was able to plant her roots within the art of floral design and continues to grow in her ability to construct gorgeous arrangements. She finds deep meaning in the opportunity to be part of each couples' special day and dedicates herself to doing the individual vision of all of her clients justice. Christina has a hard time choosing between flowers but tends to favor Spray Roses, Campanula and Forget-Me-Nots.
Ben has been running around the farm since he was a toddler and has been working to plant, sell, and everything in between for years. Many of his favorite memories have taken place on these rolling hills and he is happy to be helping rent out the beautiful, historic farmhouse in his current role. His favorite flower is a tie between the foxtail lily and delphinium. Ben is an avid yogi and hiker. Come join him for an evening yoga flow or stroll through the gardens!
Ben Wollam
Airbnb Manager, Board Member
Anne Montgomery
Owner
Anne, wife of owner, Bob Wollam, is a health researcher in DC with a keen interest in everything unusual at Wollam Gardens. She’s spent time working on Capitol Hill and has applied her involvement and interest in politics to bringing a literary festival to the gardens in 2019. She’s full of interesting and creative ideas. We’re thankful for her enthusiasm and big picture vision.
Madi Campbell
Venue Manager
Madi takes care of all things venue related by making all the magic happen behind the scene to help our couples have a stress free wedding experience. She fell in love with Wollam Gardens back in 2019 when she coordinated her first wedding on the farm for her planning business. Having worked at multiple wedding venues before and being a wedding planner by trade she truly was astonished by the beauty of the gardens and knew she wanted to be a part of the team. Her favorite part of the wedding day is seeing all the little details come together and of course all the beautiful flowers!
Virginia Adams
Field Staff
Sharon Dovell
Expert seeder
Anne in the Pavilion
Sharon Dovell, expert seeder and Jeffersonton postmistress!
Amelia Hutchinson, high school summer intern
Virginia Adams in the oak leaf hydrangeas
Our Commitments
At Wollam Gardens, we are always striving to do better for our community and our environment. Our mission is to bring beauty and kindness to the world around us, and this does not stop at our flowers. As a family-owned and operated small business, we believe that every person has the ability and the power to bestow a beneficial social and environmental impact, and we offer the following commitments:
Commitment to Diversity, Equity,
and Inclusion
Of utmost importance to Wollam Gardens is that it always remains a safe and inclusive space for all. We are committed to learning and to making strong and deliberate efforts to create an equitable, comfortable, and inclusive place for all members of our community, and all who visit. We are on a journey to understand better the needs of BIPOC communities so that we can be both welcoming and helpful in modeling practices that acknowledge and help to address systemic inequities.
Commitment to Environmental Stewardship
As stewards of 11 acres of rich Virginia land, we acknowledge our responsibility to engage in best practices for the earth and the many plants and species in our care. We have grown and harvested local cut flowers since 1988 and providing sustainably grown flowers is core to our business values. However, we also know that improving our stewardship means that we must constantly learn more and improve as temperatures, rainfall, and our climate environment changes. We are working on curating offerings for environmentally sustainable weddings, and welcome your input at info@wollamgardens.com.
We believe that “doing better” is a constant exercise that builds upon itself and creates a larger community. We welcome feedback about ways in which you think we can do better, and we look forward to hosting you at Wollam Gardens.