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Floral Preservation for Funerals

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Flowers preserved from a funeral of a Veteran

 

Back in 1997 a dear friend of mine came to my shop with a request.  “Anne, could you save some flowers from mom’s funeral and make them into some little something for me and each of my sisters?”  I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before then.  I had grown and dried my own flowers before but this just had never occurred to me before.

I’m glad the first request I had for preservation came from a funeral.  It certainly touched my heart as has every funeral since then.  I like to hear the stories that my clients share with me about their loved one who has died.  This helps me to form an arrangement that truly captures the personality of the family and the one who has passed.  Sappy as it sounds, I have cried on more than one occasion over the stories shared with me about these people that I don’t even know.  Stories, family, lives lived, details – all very important facets of each client that comes in here.  And funerals are very special because they are the last tangible connect to the loved one before they are buried.  If you bring in only one rose, I will give it great care because I do understand how important that rose is.

Back in 1997 I hung most of my flowers to dry and saved the rest in “cat litter” of all things.  Hey, don’t laugh – cat litter works and it’s not nearly as heavy as sand or borax!  I learned that trick from the wonderful dried flower business in Iowa where I purchased all my inventory.  And……..it was inexpensive.  I don’t do it that way anymore but it certainly worked for me at the time.  Now I have hundreds of pounds of silica gel in my shop that I use instead.

Most flowers that come here to be “saved” are not suitable for dried floral arranging.  I figure I have nothing to lose to by trying to do my best for people with whatever they hand me.  If some flowers don’t  make it then we will use the ones that do.  I’ve always been up front with all my clients and let them know that there is no guarantee a flower will hold up through the process.  And so I try them all even though I know many are just too fragile to be in a regular dried floral arrangement.  I’ve been very surprised and PLEASED with the outcome of so many flowers that we have experimented with. 

If you have doubts please peruse the floral preservation page of this website.  You will find a variety of saved flowers from the arrangements that have been brought here.  Click on the pictures to enlarge.  If you scroll down to the bottom you will see that I have written on most of them letting you know tidbits of info and whether the flowers represent a funeral or wedding or some other occasion that was special to a client.

Til next time, enjoy the winter…………I’m hoping it’s blowing off it’s last steam and that Spring is truly just around the corner.

Blessings,

Anne

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