What can you do with flowers after a funeral? Here’s six ideas

Whether you take the floral arrangement with you to the wake, place them on the coffin to be cremated or buried with the person who has died, or choose not to have flowers at all - there’s no right or wrong choice. But if you would like to reuse, repurpose or preserve the flowers, here are some ideas:

1. Give the flowers away

Not everyone knows that funeral floral arrangements can be created in such a way that the flowers can be divided up easily after the service. Poppy’s works with Lilian Highmoor from Lilian’s Flowers to offer clients locally grown, seasonal floral arrangements. “You can have bouquets in compostable bags, which can then be detached,” Lilian says. “I can also put little vases into arrangements so that they can be lifted out and used again.”

After the day itself, you could take the bouquets home, give them to guests and friends or donate them to care homes, hospices or your local library, where they might bring pleasure to even more people. Lilian’s arrangements often also contain locally-grown herbs such as rosemary and mint, which can be removed and used in cooking or baking!

2. Dry or press your flowers

Many flowers dry beautifully. Once they are dried, they will keep for many years, and you can enjoy them in lots of different ways. You could arrange some of the dried flowers into a frame to hang in your home or give as a gift. The process of choosing and drying or pressing them could also offer a quiet moment to reflect on the person who has died and the memories you have of them. For advice on how to press your flowers, check out this guide from the Royal Horticultural Association.

3. Choose an arrangement of ‘living flowers’

Instead of cut flowers, you might consider an arrangement partly or entirely made up of living plants. These can be easily parcelled up and given out to guests as gifts and even replanted to be enjoyed for years to come. “I use a moss base to plant things into a floral arrangement,” Lilian says. “We did a funeral where the floral arrangement was a tray of British snowdrops, and the client gave a snowdrop plant out to the people who came. The snowdrops went all over the country!”

4. Dry the seeds and plant them

Many flowers can be dried and the seeds gathered. They can then be planted in your garden as a living memorial or scattered somewhere meaningful to you or the person who has died. That’s why we give out packets of wildflower seeds as a parting gift to guests at the end of every Poppy’s funerals.

This may not be possible with all flower species, so check with your florist when you’re designing your arrangement. “Sunflowers are an obvious choice, because you can see the seeds,” Lilian says, “but each flower has a different way of dispersing seeds!” Again, the Royal Horticultural Society has some helpful advice on collecting seeds.

5. Use flowers and foliage to create stencils

If you enjoy crafting, you can create some beautiful shapes and designs using flowers and leaves as a stencil. It may take a bit of experimentation, but it could be an opportunity to craft and talk with others, including children, about the person who has died.

6. Turn your flowers into pot pourri

Apparently, pot pourri, once a common fixture in British homes, is making a comeback! Check out this article on making homemade pot pourri. Bear in mind you’ll need to dry your flowers first, and you’ll need a few other items to hand before you start your pot pourri project.

To find out more about Lilian’s Flowers, visit Lilian’s website.

Read our blog on choosing flowers for a funeral, or contact us to start arranging a funeral.