Sustainable Wedding flowers
How can you be more sustainable and eco-friendly when it comes to flowers?
I am a wedding florist who loves to use British flowers, I want to build my business sustainably and with the environment in mind. I want to help like minded people who care about the environment be more aware of how to buy wedding flowers sustainably.
What is sustainability and how do we achieve it? Why be sustainable?
To be sustainable is to be able to do what you are doing, without having an impact on the environment. Or to protect our natural environment whilst living our lives.
I want to help you make more sustainable choices when you’re looking for a wedding florist as it’s not always obvious how to achieve this and what to look for. Recently I have found that the word “sustainable” is thrown around without real meaning behind it. I’m going to cover a few different subjects that are food for thought when picking your wedding florist.
Photograph by Louise Pollitt
The use of floral foam, why is it bad? Floral foam or ‘oasis’ is a material that can hold lots of water and keep flower stems in place, it is traditionally used for lots of floral and wedding flower arrangements (shown in images below). It is formed of plastic that is non-biodegradable which means it cannot be broken down. It has to be disposed of in landfill and will remain there for 100-1000s of years or be eaten by animals or aquatic creatures.
Make sure your florist does not use floral foam. Without the use of floral foam to keep flowers fresh they need to have a water source which will normally be provided in some kind of container. I create all my designs foam-free.
Plastics. I think by now we all know that as a nation we use too much single use plastic. Creating plastic releases harmful gases into the atmosphere which contribute to global warming. These plastics are then thrown away after a single use and put into landfill. So as a sustainable business I try to use as little plastic as possible and use biodegradable alternatives or products that I can reuse.
Recycling is the last choice. Lots of people say they are sustainable because they recycle (recycling is still better than throwing away) but really we should try to avoid the plastic in the first place!
Lots of flowers from the international market come packaged in single use plastic, whereas locally grown flowers are collected in buckets , I have a number of buckets that I reuse again and again to collect and hold my flowers.
Locally grown flowers collected from Yorkshire petals in a bucket Vs imported flowers in plastic wrapping. Try to avoid bouquets wrapped in plastic, go for brown paper instead which can be reused or composted.
Preserved and dried flowers, are these sustainable?
The use of dried and bleached flowers is super on trend at the moment and the great thing about them is that because they are dried they last for a long time (months and months) and can be reused again and again which would seem more environmentally friendly as there is less waste, yes or no?
photography by Louise Pollitt and styling by Spectacular scenes
It depends on the process used to dry them.
Flowers that are dried naturally are best for the environment, this method of drying involves hanging the flowers upside down in a dark warm room, it takes a couple of weeks for the flowers to dry completely then they are ready to display. Others are dried or bleached in let’s say a more worrying way. First ask yourself how does a naturally dark green ruscus stem turn to this bleach white? (shown in the vase in the above photo). From research I have learnt that it goes through a multistage bleaching process with different chemicals to get rid of the original colour, stop yellowing, stop it smelling. Then it needs strengthening and this is done with plastics/starch adhesives.
Is this Sustainable or environmentally friendly? The bleaching process of adding chemicals and plastic adhesives make the plant non biodegradable which means it cannot decompose naturally so has to be disposed of in landfill. Also some of the chemicals used to bleach the plants release harmful gases into the atmosphere when produced. I would say no, what do you think?
After reading this would you use dried flowers? I think it depends on your work/design, for example for a wedding;
Do the couple want to keep the flowers and reuse them or would they throw them away?
Would they be happy having the wedding florist take them after the wedding and reuse them for another wedding?
To help you decide whether to buy dried flowers, first find out if they have been dried naturally, or with chemicals and plastics.
Using local flower suppliers like Pickers who dry flowers using the natural method. If the flower/stem is very white it is likely it has been bleached, whereas naturally dried stems tend to have a brown/yellow tinge.
Photography by Louise Pollitt, styling by Spectacular scenes
Beautiful or not? I’d be interested to know if after reading all this you think these flowers are beautiful? I love flowers as they represent the magic and beauty of nature and all the colours it produces. The shape, the movement, the frangrance they produce and how they flower then die then grow again. I think this is lost in dried flowers, what do you think?
“It is fair to say that preserved florals are to flower lovers what taxidermy pets are to animal lovers”.
from Sustainable floristry network
Too extreme….?
British flowers.
Why choose British flowers over imported flowers? Buying British flowers is better for the environment because:
they have not travelled long distances via aeroplane or refrigerated vans,
they are grown in traditional greenhouses or outside with little or no chemicals. T
This means they have a smaller carbon footprint. Think of all the energy used to heat greenhouses, fly planes and refrigerate flowers in vans and markets for hours when they are imported. British flowers are also great for wildlife and bees which in turn helps our ecosystem.
As well as being good for the environment using local flower growers helps to support and create jobs here rather than sourcing the flowers abroad. What I love about British flowers is that they are grown naturally as nature intended, they have better scents, they are not generic or identical to each other, In my opinion nature isn’t perfect so why do we want our flowers to be. Do you agree?
I use small local flower growers as well as some bigger British growers, what I love about these is that it feels more personal, you get to know the grower and in turn you help each other out. The flowers aren’t identical, you don’t always know exactly what you will get and I find it makes my job more exciting and individual, no bridal bouquet is the same anyway but when you have wedding flowers that aren’t “perfect” this is even more so and makes them extra special for your wedding day.
Photograph by Louise Pollitt, Venue is Oakwell Hall
Seasonal flowers.
The word seasonal is thrown around a lot when it comes to flowers and people are believed to thinking seasonal means in season in the UK however it could mean that it is in season somewhere else e.g. Africa/Brazil, or it could also mean that these flowers are traditional for this season. Amaryllis is a beautiful flower that comes from Brazil, it is traditional at Christmas but it can’t grow outside in the UK winter as it is too cold. Is it seasonal in the sense you think?
I think it is nice to see flowers that are in season and appreciate them rather than replace them with something else. Compare this to strawberries in season and out of season/imported, they taste so much sweeter in season right! Be careful with this and don’t get tricked into buying something because it is in “season”. The best way to check this is to see if it has been grown in the UK.
Photograph by Louise Pollitt
To summarise: if you are wanting to find a wedding florist that is truly sustainable and want to buy flowers whilst having the least impact on the environment
Do not use oasis/flower foam, look for foam free wedding displays
If you like dried flowers make sure they are naturally dried and reuse them after your wedding, rather than throw them away
Use and buy locally grown British flowers that are in season to support our environment, ecosystem and economy
I hope you have enjoyed reading this article and that you have learnt how to buy sustainable flowers and find a wedding florist that is truly sustainable and actively cares for the environment.