”Flowers, Design, Philosophy” by Jane Packer

If you’re seeking ideas on how to use flowers to make your memorial service or funeral the most beautiful and unique ceremony ever, there is no floral designer as amazing as Jane Packer. Her book, Jane Packer: Flowers, Design, Philosophy is not new to the market, but it’s my absolute favorite. This is not a book limited to flower arrangements, nor is it a how-to guide filled with stiff and stuffy funeral flowers. Packer is one of the UK’s most well-known floral artists and has published this book especially for celebrations with “sympathy tributes” in mind.  As a designer, she has an incredibly sophisticated visual eye and is delightfully creative with her floral designs; added to the fact that it’s a large format book — big, luscious images of flower ideas burst forth in the pages — and you won’t find yourself lacking in inspiration to plan meaningful funeral or memorial services.

“This is not a book limited to flower arrangements, nor is it a how-to guide filled with stiff and stuffy funeral flowers.”

Whether you’re doing a DIY or bringing a party planner on board, you will immediately find yourself tagging pages with post-its in Jane Packer: Flowers, Design, Philosophy. Arrive armed with this book and you will challenge your party planner to move away from the standard approach to funeral flowers.

Some of the floral ideas I personally love? One is to lay out a rectangle shaped, thick mat of rose petals on the floor with a heart shape center of contrasting rose petals. I can just imagine this heart-grabbing design on display in front of an altar of cremated remains. It truly creates a soulful place to contemplate memories.

Samples from the book “Jane Packer, Flowers, Design, Philosophy”

Another idea is to string small flowers (she recommends hyacinths ) on a wire (see above) as a gift to guests who attend the memorial service or funeral. These favors become part of the memorial service decoration, but later they serve as a dried floral memento for each guest to cherish. Another page shows a tall, minimalist wood stump on top of which an array of white, multi-variety flowers shoot up; it’s an image worthy of Donald Judd minimalists devotees. Indeed, Jane Packer’s floral designs have a wide bandwidth for all types of themed memorial services or funerals.

In her book, Jane Packer presents a lot to us; inspirational words, thoughts on how to approach flower design, as well as all kinds of tips and step-by-step instructions on how to create her amazing creations. She augments how-to’s with exciting images that inspire you to run out and gather the materials first thing. Packer also writes of the importance of creating a mood. A mood is so important and affected by many aspects of the service; formal, casual, texture, color, flowers and foliage, etc. When reading, I noted what I believe is one of her mottos:

“Very often that cliche of our times, “less is more,” is a good maxim to follow when combining flowers. A huge vase full of flowers is dramatic but I know that one little flower floating in a bowl can have an impact equal to that of the most lavish display.”

–Jane Packer

Although Jane Packer: Flowers, Design, Philosophy is assembled with all kinds of celebrations in mind, every creation can be used as inspiration for that perfect funeral or memorial ceremony. Jane Packer’s color sense is stunning, like food on a plate, she makes you want to eat more and more of her ideas! This is the kind of book I can leaf through over and over again. Packer’s eye excites me every time as I turn the pages of her amazing creations, where flowers are assembled in all kinds of unexpected, innovative ways.

Buy her book from Amazon.

More about memorial and funeral flowers:

• Read our section on the environmental and social impact of flowers.
• The beauty of retaining keepsake flowers from a memorial service or funeral.
• Is there anything as enchanting as the meaning of flowers?