Sustainable Floristry at Chelsea Flower Show - where next?
- Su Whale
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
It has been some years now since the use of floral foam was banned at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, (although Agrawool is accepted) and with the show fast approaching, it will be interesting to see how or indeed if, sustainable floral design has advanced since last year.
Farewell Flowers
The arrival of the first exhibit from Farewell Flowers should certainly throw new light on how to create funeral tributes sustainably. The show will present a unique challenge as in how the tributes and arrangements will last over the course of the week. Most funeral tributes are only required to last for 24 hours, so how will a six day show (if you include press day) impact on needing to have everything 100% for the whole of the time (it is Chelsea after all!)
This particular aspect of the show is something which florists have come to grips with over the past few years. Mediums such as Agrawool and moss can go so far, but arranging directly into water is always preferable, especially as you can never predict the temperature inside the Great Pavilion.
So will we see any advances on test tubes, grave spikes and chicken wire? Perhaps innovative containers – florists making their own?
One way to approach it is to go to the trouble of making bespoke containers, such as Elder & Wild, a husband and wife design team who in 2024 produced ‘Glazes’ a floating collection of sweet peas, all resting on hand-made shallow dishes.
Drawing on the past
Alternatively, sometimes the old ways are the best, who would have thought that a 21st century Chelsea would have featured a Constance Spry container complete with pin holder.
Most impressive but equally difficult to pull off are the large installations which cover the entrance gates, all designed without using floral foam. They do take some maintenance however, the re-filling of hundreds of test-tubes and grave-spikes as dawn breaks is not for the faint hearted.
So, with the new floral foam innovations just around the corner from Phoam Labs and Oasis, will we see ‘foam’ in it’s new form back at Chelsea? Saving florists hours of refreshing and topping up?
Watch this space…
Su Whale is a florist and freelance writer with over twenty-five years' experience in the floristry industry. She is the author and publisher of three best-selling books: Cut Flowers, 4th edition (2020) Cut Foliage, 2nd Edition, (2021) and Houseplants (2019), all bookshelf essentials for the professional florist.
