Chelsea Flower Show visitors break down in tears over 'moving' funeral display in a festival first

Daily Mail​

20-05-2025

Chelsea Flower Show is usually a happy occasion characterised by peonies, Pimm's and lots of smiling faces.
But a new display this year is leaving some visitors in tears.
For the first time in the show's 112-year history there is a funeral floristry exhibit showcasing a willow coffin, gravestones and a wire sculpture of a man and his dog.
Nestled nearby in the grass are personal flower tributes including walking boots filled with garden-style flowers, a wreath of living plants, a violin holding flowers and a casket arrangement designed to be divided and shared with family and friends.
The centrepiece of the installation, created by The Farewell Flowers Directory team, is an arrangement of 'vibrant, wildly natural seasonal garden flowers'.
Gill Hodgson, co-founder of the company, said: 'Funeral flowers haven't altered for 50 years. The designs haven't altered and they're based in floral foam which is plastic.
'We want to let people know that they have a choice.
'Funeral flowers don't have to look funeral, they can be whatever you want them to be.
'You can choose to celebrate and reflect a life with fresh, seasonal materials that are natural, beautiful and resonant with meaning.
'And you can choose for your tributes to tread lightly on the planet. There's not a single piece of plastic here – not a plant pot or a cable tie.'
The flowers on the display are sitting in glass jugs full of water to help them keep their shape and structure of the design.
The team is encouraging people to think – possibly for the first time – what their wishes for their own funeral might be.
Among those to shed a tear at the display include florist and TV presenter Simon Lycett.
'So many people have come down and cried,' Ms Hodgson said. 'Simon Lycett came and burst into tears.
'I don't mean to sound rude if I say we don't mind people crying but I think it's nice that people can be moved.
'It's not that they're sad, but they've been moved.'
The display was awarded a gold medal by RHS judges this morning – the highest accolade for garden design and execution.
'We had some great feedback from the judges who said all the right things about how we've done exactly what we aimed to do,' Ms Hodgson said.
'We wanted to bring funeral flowers to Chelsea but it no way be macabre or dark.'
The display, which located inside the Great Pavilion, is also completely sustainable and plastic-free.
The group aims to banish single-used plastic from funeral arrangements, especially plastic floral foam.
This is a type of porous material used in flower arranging to provide support and hydration, and is commonly used in floral signs such as 'Mum', 'Dad' or 'Nan'.
'Around 80 per cent of funerals are now cremations and the proportion is going up every year,' Ms Hodgson said.
'And at a cremation the flowers tend to get seen less. At a burial you'd put them on the grave but t the crematorium, those flowers are seen for about 20 minutes.
'Then, after they've been moved outside for a few days they get put in the skip. And it sits there forever.
'Floral foam was invented in 1954 and every bit that's ever been made is still sitting there.'
The ground-breaking installation is sponsored by the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management (ICCM).
Mathew Crawley, Chief Executive of the ICCM said: 'The Farewell Flowers Directory champions a simple but transformative idea: funeral flowers can be personal, beautiful, and environmentally responsible.
'This exhibit is more than just a showcase of flowers – it's a statement that grief, remembrance and sustainability can exist together in harmony.'