A floristry team is set to make history at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show with the first ever display to showcase funeral floristry.
Funeral flowers make up a significant proportion of the British floral industry, but this will be the first time they have been recognised with their own work at the world-renowned floral exhibition in London.
New Covent Garden Market, the UK’s largest and leading wholesale market, is working with The Farewell Flowers Directory to stage the display using exclusively British-grown flowers and foliage supplied by traders from the Market.
The historical display at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show will feature an artistic interpretation of a funeral scene, with an arrangement of vibrant seasonal flowers and foliage bursting from an open willow coffin.
The exhibit, set in the heart of the Great Pavilion, will shine a spotlight on compostable, foam-free funeral flowers, demonstrating that beauty and sustainability can go hand in hand – even at life’s most difficult moments. All arrangements will be made using sustainable floristry techniques, entirely free of floral foam and single-use plastic.
Tommy Leighton of New Covent Garden Market said: “It’s a real honour for us to support such a meaningful and timely initiative at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The Farewell Flowers Directory is not only doing important work to promote sustainability, but also opening vital conversations around how we say goodbye with beauty and care. It’s also an exciting opportunity to bring greater exposure to their remarkable directory and the florists behind it. New Covent Garden Market is proud to be a part of it.”
Gill Hodgson MBE, Co-founder of The Farewell Flowers Directory, said: “Funeral flowers don’t have to look funereal; they can be anything you want them to be. We hope our Chelsea exhibit will help start conversations and let people know that they have a choice — to honour a life using natural, beautiful materials that reflect the seasons and the person. And to do so in a way that’s kind to the planet.”
