The beautiful floral tribute for the late Queen’s funeral quite rightly received a lot of attention across the press and on Social Media. Its base of woven oak and moss was decorated with flowers and foliage from three Royal residences and was full of meaning and symbolism, including rosemary for remembrance and myrtle and roses for love.
Of course, the oak for this very special tribute was cut from the royal gardens with permission from its owner! However woven wreaths can be created from other types of wood, ones which are more easily available for the florist. Willow is the most obvious candidate, also cornus (dogwood), birch, poplar and ash, each with a meaning which makes them not inappropriate for funerals:
Silax (Weeping Willow) - Mourning
Ash - Grandeur
Betula (Silver Birch) - Meekness
Aspen (Poplar) - Lamentation
Cornus (Dogwood) - Durability
Cedar - Strength
Floral tributes created this way are absolutely in tune with the drive to make floristry more sustainable and are ideal for woodland burials. The big disadvantage is that moss doesn’t have the lasting qualities of foam, but for funeral work this shouldn’t be a problem as long as the customer understands this.
