A Blooming Legacy: Celebrating Sustainable Farewell Flowers at RHS Chelsea 2025

We share our excitement as a historic milestone unfolded at RHS Chelsea 2025 - sustainable funeral flowers took centre stage for the first time. The striking exhibit featured eco-friendly designs free from floral foam and single-use plastics, showcasing how farewell tributes can be both meaningful and kind to the earth. With personalised touches and natural materials, discover how this movement is reshaping the way we say goodbye, bringing comfort, beauty, and environmental care into the heart of farewell floristry. (May 2025 - 2 minute read).

As always we eagerly follow the coverage of RHS Chelsea Flower show unfold and this year we are filled with excitement and joy as Farewell Flowers Directory secured Gold.

Flowers carry stories. They celebrate life, bring comfort in sorrow, and offer a language of love when words fall short. This year, a significant milestone in funeral floristry took place at the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show, where sustainable funeral flowers were given centre stage for the first time. This powerful shift redefines how goodbye flowers are viewed, proving they can be beautiful, meaningful, and gentle on the planet.

A Groundbreaking Moment at Chelsea

The Farewell Flowers exhibit in Chelsea’s Great Pavilion demonstrated that sustainability and beauty can, and should, go hand in hand as we’ve always strived for.

The breathtaking installation, created without plastic floral foam or single-use plastic, featured a striking arrangement of seasonal blooms spilling from a willow coffin, carried by white birch pallbearers. It served as a moving tribute to life, love, and the natural cycle of return to the earth.

A Personal Approach to Farewell Floristry

What made this exhibit so powerful was its focus on personalised, thoughtful design. From walking boots filled with fresh-cut flowers to tributes designed for sharing with family and friends, the display showed how funeral flowers can reflect not only a life lived, but also the stories and memories behind it.

Many florists (us included!) now invite families to contribute flowers from their own gardens or participate in creating arrangements, transforming grief into a hands-on, healing process.

Why Sustainable Funeral Flowers Matter

The growing movement toward sustainable farewell flowers is redefining traditions in a way that is more respectful to the environment and deeply personal.

Why choose sustainable farewell flowers?

• No plastic floral foam, a major pollutant in waterways and soil

• Fully compostable materials that gently return to the earth

• Locally-sourced blooms used whenever possible to reduce carbon footprint

• Truly personal designs that bring comfort, connection, and peace

Celebrating with Heart, Saying Goodbye with Grace

“As funeral florists, we know that personalised and thoughtful funeral flowers make a difference,” says Carole Patilla, co-founder of The Farewell Flowers Directory. Flowers help create a moment to pause, reflect, and honour life in a deeply human and natural way.

Farewell flowers don’t have to be traditional or sombre. They can be wild and garden-inspired, vibrant and joyful, meaningful and environmentally conscious.

Want to Learn More?

Explore our eco-friendly funeral range online, call us on 01983 811 291, or get in touch to arrange a visit and speak with us in person.

This RHS Chelsea moment is just the beginning of a beautiful, blooming revolution, because a final tribute should honour a life, and protect the world it leaves behind.

Much love,

Nic x