Farewell flowers for a gardener

by Tracey Mosley of Mrs Moseley’s Posies, Chippenham, Wiltshire.

Tracey of Mrs Mosley’s Posies making an eco-friendly casket spray in her workshop.

A few years ago, when a good gardening friend of mine died, I asked her husband if he would like me to create the funeral flowers for her. I explained that I would like to use some of the flowers from their garden, as they would make the arrangement really personal and special, and he was very happy for me to go ahead.

It was September and I was given permission to cut whatever I wanted for the casket spray from their half acre, cottage garden. I felt as if M was walking around the garden with me, naming all the plants and telling me where she’d got them from, like we’d done so many times before. Whenever I admired a plant, she would often dig me up a piece, which is what the best gardening friends do!

The finished casket spray filled with seasonal late summer flowers.

It was quite cathartic for me to create my friend’s funeral tribute flowers and after chatting with one of M’s daughters and explaining that I tried to be as eco-friendly and sustainable as possible in my floristry, I found out that she shared my values too. For the coffin spray, I used a chicken wire base, filled with moss and torn up Agra wool, which was later returned to me to be reused.

Tracey’s re-usable base for her flowers.

Creating funeral flowers for people you know is a really wonderful thing to be able to do because you know so well that these final flowers have been made with love.

More about Tracey and her work

Tracey works with the seasons to create country garden style natural funeral flowers, using garden or locally grown flowers wherever possible. She loves to include flowers that have special meaning to customers and to create truly personalised funeral flowers.

Visit her website for more information.