'Why I'm taking funeral flowers to Chelsea'

A former teacher is making history at this year's Chelsea Flower Show - with the event's first-ever funeral flower display.

Carole Patilla, from Bournville, Birmingham, gave up her classroom career to become a florist and specialises in alternative, less traditional funeral arrangements.

She said she hoped people at Chelsea would be "wowed" by the beauty of the display, rather than distracted by the fact it has been designed with funerals in mind.

"I think people are squeamish about anything that's connected with death and dying, and we're not trying to shock anybody," Ms Patilla explained.

"We're trying to kind of welcome them in and make the whole topic less threatening."

Ms Patilla hopes the display will encourage people to talk to their loved ones about the kind of funeral they would like - which she says they are often, understandably, reticent to discuss.

Last year, she helped set up the Farewell Flowers Directory, a non-profit organisation that connects customers with local florists who specialise in creating individually-tailored funeral arrangements.

There is also a focus on sustainability, by avoiding the use of wire, plastic and floral foam that is often used in traditional arrangements.

"It's a huge waste disposal problem for cemeteries and crematoriums," said Ms Patilla.

"And they've been really supportive. They've sponsored the display, actually, because they're super keen to reduce the amount of waste connected with funerals in general."

The display at Chelsea, which Ms Patilla has created with florists from Leamington Spa, Devon and Yorkshire, will depict a churchyard scene with flowers growing around gravestones and bursting out of a coffin.

But she promises it will not be "macabre".

"It's going to be a really joyous celebration of seasonal British grown flowers," she said. "We're using it like a giant window box, really."

Most of the flowers Ms Patilla uses in her day-to-day floristry at Tuckshop Flowers in south Birmingham are grown in her garden or on her allotment.

"I just love the feel that it creates," she said. "It's not uniform, it's very relaxed, it's very natural.

"It's really easy to create wildflower-style tributes using garden ingredients."

But Ms Patilla says her work should not be conflated with the eco-funeral movement.

"We welcome that, we embrace it, and we want to encourage it, but we don't want to be pigeonholed," she said. "We want to encourage the idea of funeral flowers without foam to spread, and we want it to become the mainstream.

"And that's why we're taking them to Chelsea."

Chelsea Flower Show runs from 20 to 24 May.

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