Our Monthly Tip: Make a Wildflower Casket Spray

A bouquet of wildflowers makes an ideal memorial item.
Credit: Pinterest

Our Tip of the Month

What better way to honor an environmentally conscious loved one than with a wildflower casket spray? Gathering local wildflowers and arranging them to create a memorial is an ideal compliment to the rising popularity of green burials — particularly during the summer and fall seasons, when they’re blooming in abundance. Wildflower bouquets and casket sprays are easy to prepare, locally available, eco-friendly and cost-effective. And best of all? They allow creators to draw from the very hills, valleys and other places steeped in memories of the friend or family member who’s died.

How-to Suggestions

Find Local Wildflowers: Take a stroll to neighboring parks, fields, or even graveyards to gather local wildflowers. These are best picked close to the stem — the morning of the memorial, if possible — and stored in water. Some common options include daisies, asters, poppies, buttercups, bluebells, Queen Anne’s lace, bachelor buttons or chicory. If they’re too hard to find, wildflowers can also be located at a farmer’s market or ordered from a florist. Add some dried or green grasses into a wildflower casket spray for additional effect.

An arrangement of wildflowers to honor a loved one
Credit: Pinterest

Arrange the Flowers: Gather the flowers together and tie them with a colorful ribbon or piece of yarn. Bias tape from a sewing supply store in a soft color offers a natural-looking alternative. The flowers can also be wrapped in tissue paper and tied with string.

Use the Flowers as a Memorial: Wildflower sprays can be laid across a casket, handed to the bereaved or placed on a freshly filled grave. Depending on the burial service or memorial event, it may be appropriate to remove individual flowers and toss them into the grave as it’s being filled, or share them with other mourners. After all, they’re wild, free-ranging and meant to proliferate.