FAQs - who, where, what and how?

If you’re a florist in the UK, you can join our directory on these conditions: 1) you can provide compostable funeral flowers which don’t use wire, plastic-derived floral foam or any other form of plastic, 2) your compostable funeral arrangements will ALWAYS include some locally grown or UK grown flowers & foliage 3) you have a website with a page (or are about to add one) dedicated to your funeral flowers which features compostable funeral arrangements and which will act as a landing page for visitors who come to you from our ‘Find Flowers’ map. 4) For transparency, your funeral page will also explain where you may source your flowers for funeral work.
We welcome ALL florists who offer plastic-free, compostable arrangements each of which contains some locally or UK grown material. We work on a principle of ‘good, better, best’ for what proportion of your flowers are UK grown, rather than laying down rules and stipulating percentages. We only require that you are transparent and honest on your website funeral flowers page and explain where your flowers come from. (see guidance)
Find your local flower grower by visiting the ‘Find Flowers’ page on the Flowers from the Farm website. Wholesalers specialising in British grown blooms year round include Flowers by Clowance, BJ Richards, Evolve Flowers and Smith&Munson.
We’ve indexed some resources for you as a start point here. There are lots of resources available: online courses, in-person workshops, books, video tutorials on Youtube….If you google ‘sustainable floristry’ ‘green funeral flowers’, ‘sustainable funeral flowers’, ‘eco-funeral flowers’ or similar, you should be able to find a wealth of material to inspire you. There are also suggestions for training/learning listed in the Welcome Pack which you will receive when you sign up to the directory.
Please see full information on the ‘Join Us’ page of our website.
A major aim of The Farewell Flowers Directory is to make it as easy as possible for people to find more sustainable funeral flowers at a difficult time. We want them to be able to find all the information they need with just a single click from our website, so you need to have your own website funeral flowers page to showcase your work and to provide information. Having a website which promotes your funeral work will also be a key factor in your business getting found for funeral flowers, whether or not this is through our Directory. If you’re serious about funeral flower work, you are doing your business a favour by creating the resources our Directory requests, even if you don’t go on to join us.

FAQs - compostability?

A biodegradable product will eventually break down under the right conditions. However, many biodegradable products contain plastics. For example, the paper and the plastic in a biodegradable plastic-lined paper coffee cup will eventually break down but there will still be microplastic waste left behind. The composting process, by contrast, takes place more quickly and all suitable material will turn into organic matter or humus. No microplastics will be left behind. To simplify: everything that is compostable is also biodegradable. But biodegradable does not necessarily mean compostable.
For our directory ‘compostable’ means EITHER can be composted in a heap or bin at home OR in an industrial facility such as those used by councils to recycle green waste collected from our homes.
Agrawool and Oasis Fibre Floral cannot claim full compostability as they break down into basalt, a naturally occuring form of volcanic rock, and this remains in the ground when the foam biodegrades. Like all foams, the production of basalt based products requires intensive industrial processes in its manufacture. Basalt based foams are preferable to plasic based foams but are not compostable. If you plan to use them at a natural burial ground, please check with the natural burial ground managers before using them.
Yes. Oshun pouches are certified home compostable.
No. Oasis Bio Floral Foam is biodegradable but not compostable so does not fit with our criteria. Oasis Bio foam contains plastics.
Yes. Oasis Terra Bricks are home and industrial compostable and use coir fibre as their main ingredient.
Phoam is a new form of naturally derived floral foam which is just appearing in the UK but is not yet widely available. Its main ingredient is polylactic acid (PLA) made by fermenting sugars of fast-growing plants that are renewable within a 12-month cycle – typically corn or sugar cane. It has applied for a certificate of compostability so we’ll keep you posted as we hear more.
Chrysal ‘Alive Arrive’ and Eco Fresh wraps are made from cellulose, derived from wood. They are compostable. If they are wrapped in compostable bags and tied with twine, they are 100% compostable.

FAQs - promoting my business

We’d love to showcase the work of florists from all over the UK, so if you’ve got lovely, pin-sharp images of compostable funeral flowers which we can share on our galleries, please email them to us at images@farewellflowers.co.uk. Label your image files with your business name and location so we know who to credit. Unlabelled images will not be accepted. By sending us images, you are stating that you own the copyright to these images, and/or have permission to share them from the photographer and any people featured in the image. We assume that you have checked permissions with any other parties involved before sharing, and the responsibility for their use will be yours, not that of The Farewell Flowers Directory. You can ask for images to be removed at any time by contacting us on the email above.
We’re always looking for volunteers to populate our Instagram account with great stories about their funeral flowers - how you got into them, the stories behind them, the flowers you include in them, compostable arrangements you’ve invented, memorable moments…. etc etc. Remember that our Instagram is targeted at the public, at customers and to show funeral directors the range of flowers which are possible for funerals. Introduce yourself with a photo, as people bring the grid to life and it’s lovely to have a human face for funeral flowers and for your business. Let’s not be corporate and grim! Get in touch by emailing instagram@farewellflowers.co.uk. By posting images on our Instagram account, you are stating that you own the copyright to these images, and/or have permission to share them from the photographer and any people featured in the image. We assume that you have checked permissions with any other parties involved before sharing, and the responsibility for their use will be yours, not that of The Farewell Flowers Directory. You can ask for images to be removed at any time by contacting us on the email above.
Of course you can! We want to show that flowers can be anything people want them to be, so any positive stories you have connected with the compostable arrangments you make, stories behind the flowers, collaborations with other local businesss (undertakers, flower growers, funeral suppliers…), promotional activities you’ve done to raise the profile of compostable funeral flowers etc etc are more than welcome! Remember that these stories are aimed at the general public, not at fellow florists, so should not go into the technical details of construction at great length. Please email stories, along with great photos, to blog@farewellflowers.co.uk Don’t worry too much about writing perfecton, Carole will wield her editorial pen to help if needed! Label your image files with your business name and location so we know who to credit. Unlabelled images will not be accepted. By sending us images, you are stating that you own the copyright to these images, and/or have permission to share them from the photographer and any people featured in the image. We assume that you have checked permissions with any other parties involved before sharing, and the responsibility for their use will be yours, not that of The Farewell Flowers Directory. You can ask for images to be removed at any time by contacting us on the email above.
We’d love to refresh the florists we showcase on the homepage ‘meet our florists’ section from time to time. If you have a lovely photo of yourself WITH FLOWERS, own the copyright and are happy for us to use it on the website and/or social media, please email it to us along with a MAX 2 sentence quote about why you love making funeral flowers. Send it to images@farewellflower.co.uk. Label your image files with your business name and location so we know who to credit. Unlabelled images will not be accepted. By sending us images, you are stating that you own the copyright to these images, and/or have permission to share them from the photographer and any people featured in the image. We assume that you have checked permissions with any other parties involved before sharing, and the responsibility for their use will be yours, not that of The Farewell Flowers Directory. You can ask for images to be removed at any time by contacting us on the email above.

FAQs - payments, renewals and cancellations

Please see information on our ‘Join Us’ page and sign up via our online form.
We take payment for a 12 month subscription via our payment processor ‘Go Cardless’. Go Cardless sets up a direct debit to take an annual payment so that your membership will seamlessly continue from year to year. If you wish to cancel your subscription, please let us know (email members@farewellflowers.co.uk) and cancel your direct debit to us with your bank. Payments recur annually unless your direct debit is cancelled - this is your responsibility.
Go Cardless, our payment processor, sets up a direct debit so payment will automatically be taken once a year. Each year, you will receive advance notification at the email you used to sign up, that payment will be taken soon. If you do not wish to renew your subscription, please let us know (email members@farewellflowers.co.uk) and also cancel your direct debit directly with your bank at any time before the renewal falls due.
Subscriptions are non-refundable and non-transferable so no refunds will be issued. If you wish to withdraw your business’s website link from our ‘Find Flowers’ listings, please contact us at members@farewellflowers.co.uk and we can remove the link for you.