Chelsea funeral flowers win gold medal

Meg Edmonds (left) and Carole Patilla said they were delighted by the success of the funeral display

A schoolteacher-turned-horticulturist says she is "overjoyed but exhausted" after winning a gold medal for her debut at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Carole Patilla, from Bournville, Birmingham, was part of a team that created Chelsea's first-ever display of funeral flowers.

They even had a royal visit when Queen Camilla stopped to admire the display.

"She was commenting on the different varieties of flowers in there, and saying that it all looked beautiful," said Ms Patilla.

This is the first time funeral flowers have ever been shown at Chelsea

The award-winning display depicts a churchyard with paper mache headstones, a man sitting on a bench with a dog at his feet, and flowers - such as foxgloves, peonies and irises - bursting out of a coffin.

"We're just really delighted by the way people are responding to the stand," said Ms Patilla. "That's almost as exciting as the medal itself."

Ms Patilla, who runs Tuckshop Flowers in south Birmingham, is a co-founder of the Farewell Flowers Directory (FFD), a non-profit organisation made up of independent florists specialising in individually-tailored funeral arrangements.

Members also avoid the use of plastic and floral foam.

"Plastics have become such an issue, environmentally," said Meg Edmonds, an FFD member and florist at Roots Family Farm Shop in Rushwick, Worcestershire, who helped present the display at Chelsea.

"For churchyards and crematoriums to dispose of this sort of material - it's a phenomenal job for them, and it's not necessary.

"We're here, really, to open up that conversation, and let people know that it doesn't have to be like that."

The team said Queen Camilla thought the display was "beautiful"

The team also hopes the success of the display will encourage people to be less hesitant to discuss their own funeral with loved ones.

"It just makes people think: 'Well, what do I want at my funeral?'" said Ms Patilla.

"And it might encourage them to go away and talk to somebody close to them about it."

As for the gold medal, laughed Ms Patilla, "We're never people to aim low."

"When we decided we were going to get funeral flowers in the public gaze, we decided it was Chelsea or bust.

"But you can never be sure until you see that medal on your stand, and so we were thrilled to see that it was the colour that we wanted."

After Chelsea, the display will be moved to Yorkshire, where it will be rearranged with fresh flowers.

Chelsea Flower Show runs until Saturday.