The founder of Flowers from the Farm, Gill Hodgson, has turned her attention to a new project - properly sustainable, plastic free funeral flowers - and has, in collaboration with Carole Patilla, created a directory of farewell flower florists providing compostable and natural style funeral flower arrangements. The directory is the Farewell Flowers directory and you can find it here: https://www.farewellflowers.co.uk/
Why do I think this is so important? Because funeral flowers need to come out of the shadows and into the light of public awareness. Funeral flowers are so impactful and emotive, they mark a moment that is hugely significant for those left behind, saying goodbye to a loved one, and an event that will eventually happen to us all. It is indicative of our treatment of death in general in our society that funeral flowers are something we generally have no knowledge of until someone we love passes away and we’re helping to organise a funeral. That is certainly true of me, perhaps of you too, if you’re reading this. If you’ve recently lost someone, I’m deeply sorry, and my heart is with you in your grief.
What pains me most in regard to funeral flowers, those generic imported flowers arranged in toxic plastic blocks that is the norm offered in the funeral parlour, alongside the appalling and unnecessary environmental impact, is how impersonal they are. These flowers that are meant to celebrate a life, a love, a unique individual existence, are picked from a catalogue of options that never changes, that say nothing about the person who has died or about the life they lived.
And it doesn’t have to be this way. Reach out to any one of the florists in the Farewell Flowers directory, and they will provide you with a bespoke, natural, compostable funeral arrangement that is a one-off, tailored to the personality, the likes and dislikes, of the person you’ve lost. It will be seasonal, including British flowers and foliage, and it will be truly sustainable, made with nature in mind as well as celebration of life.
I feel all funeral flowers should be made this way, but we are a long way away from that. But we are now a big step closer, thanks to Gill and Carole and all the florists who have put themselves forward to offer funeral flowers with heart. For anyone who cares about the environment, about treading lightly on the planet, this is an exciting step forward. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating it.
If you’re looking for a natural funeral arrangement for delivery around Leeds, York, Harrogate and surrounding areas, head to my funeral flowers page to view my offerings: https://kqfarm.co.uk/pages/green-funeral-flowers