Memorable and meaningful funeral flowers
by Rozanne Delamore, The Ledbury Flower Farmer
The countryside and the seasons can inspire the most beautiful and personal of tributes as Rozanne explains in this story.
My Nan’s funeral was 10 years ago this year. At the time, I wasn’t a florist but flowers were still very much a part of my daily life. Nan was an amazing cook and she lived with us, although I didn’t realise at the time how special that was. She especially loved gardening and the veg patch and passed her love of growing things onto my mum, who in turn has passed it on to me.
For Nan’s funeral we made the flowers ourselves with blooms picked from our gardens and arranged in the church. We used rich pinks, purples and a few bluebells picked from a patch of woodland which we are lucky enough to own, and combined these with the lush new greens of May and the froth of cow parsley.
On the day of the funeral, we walked to the church which sits perched on a hill overlooking farmland, and all wore little button holes made with the herbs (rosemary, chive and thyme) that she used in her cooking. We all carried a few loose blooms of bluebells and ‘Greenland’ tulips which we cast onto the coffin during the committal service along with our buttonholes and handfuls of earth. Greenland tulips grow in my garden and usually flower for my daughter’s birthday which, by coincidence, was the same day as the funeral.
Now, a decade later, whenever I see bluebells carpeting the woodland floor or the gorgeous blended greens and pinks of ‘Greenland’ tulips, I can’t help but think of my Nan. Her funeral took place on a beautifully sunny May day and I remember my children innocently asking afterwards why we’d had a party without Nan. She was 93 and her funeral was truly a celebration of a wonderful lady who brought calm and kindness into so many lives.
Flowers picked from well-loved gardens and familiar countryside provided the perfect ingredients for Rozanne’s Nan’s flowers. Made over a decade ago, before Rozanne became a flower farmer and florist and at a time when the detrimental environmental impact of floral foam was not widely discussed, foam was the unthinking choice for amateur flower arrangers. Now a working florist, Rozanne uses sustainable mechanics to support flowers in all of her arrangements.
If you’re looking for very personal funeral flowers which reflect a life, find a Farewell Flowers Directory florist near you. They’ll be happy to listen to your ideas and interpret them to make funeral flowers to remember.