Chelsea funeral flowers win gold medal

2 days ago

Gavin Kermack

BBC News, West Midlands

Meg Edmonds (left) and Carole Patilla said they were delighted by the success of the funeral display

Farewell Flowers Directory Two women stand next to each other, smiling at the camera. They are both wearing bright yellow blouses and pink lanyards. The woman on the left has brown and grey hair pulled back into a ponytail. The woman on the right has bobbed brown and grey hair and is holding an award with the words "RHS" and "GOLD MEDAL" on it. — Meg Edmonds (left) and Carole Patilla said they were delighted by the success of the funeral display

A schoolteacher-turned-horticulturist says she is "overjoyed but exhausted" after winning a gold medal for her debut at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Carole Patilla, from Bournville, Birmingham, was part of a team that created Chelsea's first-ever display of funeral flowers.

They even had a royal visit when Queen Camilla stopped to ire the display.

"She was commenting on the different varieties of flowers in there, and saying that it all looked beautiful," said Ms Patilla.

This is the first time funeral flowers have ever been shown at Chelsea

Farewell Flowers Directory A flower display, with lots of brightly-coloured flowers flowing out of what looks like a wicker coffin near a gravestone. On a bench decorated with more flowers and surrounded by grass is a figure of a man wearing a flat cap, made out of wire, looking down at a wire dog sitting in the grass. The dog has flowers around its neck. — This is the first time funeral flowers have ever been shown at Chelsea

The award-winning display depicts a churchyard with paper mache headstones, a man sitting on a bench with a dog at his feet, and flowers - such as foxgloves, peonies and irises - bursting out of a coffin.

"We're just really delighted by the way people are responding to the stand," said Ms Patilla. "That's almost as exciting as the medal itself."

Ms Patilla, who runs Tuckshop Flowers in south Birmingham, is a co-founder of the Farewell Flowers Directory (FFD), a non-profit organisation made up of independent florists specialising in individually-tailored funeral arrangements.

also avoid the use of plastic and floral foam.

"Plastics have become such an issue, environmentally," said Meg Edmonds, an FFD member and florist at Roots Family Farm Shop in Rushwick, Worcestershire, who helped present the display at Chelsea.

"For churchyards and crematoriums to dispose of this sort of material - it's a phenomenal job for them, and it's not necessary.

"We're here, really, to open up that conversation, and let people know that it doesn't have to be like that."

The team said Queen Camilla thought the display was "beautiful"

Farewell Flowers Directory The coffin of flowers in the above picture, from a different angle. Queen Camilla, a woman with shoulder-length white hair and wearing a patterned blouse, stands nearby, next to a woman with short white hair wearing a pink jacket and whose back is to the camera. Other people are in the background, one of whom is holding a video camera. — The team said Queen Camilla thought the display was "beautiful"

The team also hopes the success of the display will encourage people to be less hesitant to discuss their own funeral with loved ones.

"It just makes people think: 'Well, what do I want at my funeral"A huge pile of bin bags on a residential street. There are dozens of refuse sacks with terraced homes in the background. " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/>

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