A Dyfi Valley florist is to make history by becoming part of the first ever funeral display at Chelsea Flower Show next week.

Sarah Breese from Cemmaes grows her own flowers to create dried displays for lasting non-traditional funeral and celebratory arrangements.

Working with Farewell Flowers Directory, a non-profit connecting customers to local bespoke florists with a sustainable edge, Sarah and a team of florists are working together to create the first funeral display in the show’s 112-year history.

One of Sarah's altar displays
One of Sarah's altar displays (Sarah Breese)

Though she can’t reveal what her contribution is to the display until the show begins on 20 May, Sarah, who has worked with dried flowers for five years, said: “Dried flowers seem like a great fit for funeral flowers.

“Last year, I lost someone quite close to me and having the fresh flowers wilt and die was quite difficult to see.

“It seems like a great fit to have something that would go on after the funeral and that you could keep if you wanted to.

“I think the funeral flower industry is stuck in tradition and hasn’t caught up with the rest of the industry - the majority still use plastic foam to create letter displays for caskets, often with imported flowers.

"Whenever possible, my creations are made from plants I’ve grown or foraged where I live, with the added touch of flowers kindly grown and dried by my mum. When I need to source additional flowers, I turn to a nearby grower just over the border, and will always choose British grown where possible."
"Whenever possible, my creations are made from plants I’ve grown or foraged where I live, with the added touch of flowers kindly grown and dried by my mum. When I need to source additional flowers, I turn to a nearby grower just over the border, and will always choose British grown where possible." (Sarah Breese)

“I think part of the reason it hasn’t caught up is because there’s a fear of talking about death and dying.

“Working with Farewell Flowers, we’re trying to bring things into the light by encouraging people to think about what they might want when they pass and how much easier that would be for the family.

“I think it’s healthy to talk about these things.”

Sarah creates unique arrangements from ‘sprays’ for altars to casket displays and posies to be handed out and taken home after services.

Sarah is part of the Farewell Flowers Directory which promotes personalised funeral tributes and aims to banish plastic floral foam and single-use plastic from funeral floristry
Sarah is part of the Farewell Flowers Directory which promotes personalised funeral tributes and aims to banish plastic floral foam and single-use plastic from funeral floristry (Sarah Breese)

She grows almost everything she uses, foraging grasses and using jute to create arrangements that she aims to be entirely home compostable.

Farewell Flowers advocates for local growers and flowers that have similar sustainable ethics, aiming for funerals without foam to become mainstream.

Working with Carole Patilla, co-founder of Farewell Flowers, the team aims to encourage people to talk about the kind of funeral they would like by creating a display that sparks conversation without being macabre.

The display will be a churchyard scene with flowers around gravestones and bursting from a coffin by florists from Leamington Spa, Devon and Yorkshire.

Farewell Flowers states: “The tributes created through Farewell Flowers are beautifully in tune with the environment - offering a more meaningful and sustainable alternative to traditional funeral arrangements.

“As more people look for ways to reduce their environmental impact, Farewell Flowers invites them to extend those values to end-of-life choices as well."

Carole, who is heading up the display, described the use of plastic, floral foam and wire as a “huge waste disposal problem for cemetaries and crematoriums”, adding that she aims for the display to be “welcoming”: “I think people are squeamish about anything connected with death and dying, and we’re not trying to shock anybody... we’re trying to make the whole topic less threatening.”