Carole Patilla worked tirelessly to educate florists and families about the beauty and joy of local, seasonal, foam free, sustainable funeral flowers.
Along with Farewell Flowers’ co-founder, Gill Hodgson, Georgie Newberry, Nicola Hill, Patilla was instrumental in bringing the first funeral flowers to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. For their remarkable display, they were rightfully awarded a gold medal, bringing much-needed attention to sustainable funeral flowers.
Launched in May 2024, Farewell Flowers aims to highlight plastic-foam-free funeral flowers and to connect, funeral directors and the public with (local) florists offering sustainable, compostable arrangements. Hodgson and Patilla explained that when faced with many difficult decisions during a very tough time, people will often resort to simply plumping for the funeral director’s floral catalogue – normally made to a formula without considering seasonality or the environmental impact of the materials used. With their new venture, the floral duo aimed to change the world of funeral flowers, one arrangement at a time.
A former teacher and keen gardener, Patilla established Tuckshop Flowers, a day-to-day floristry, located in South Birmingham. Listed in the Daily Telegraph’s ‘Top 20 British Florists’, Patilla grew (chemical free) flowers in her garden and allotment for weddings, funerals and large events, working throughout the West Midlands, Staffordshire, Warwickshire & Worcestershire. True to form, in her natural style arrangements she didn’t use any preservatives or plastic-based floral foam. She won a Green Birmingham environmental award for recycling practices. She organised workshops for small groups teaching new and/or practising florists about creating beautiful and sustainable arrangements without the use of floral foam.
In 2020, she became co-chair of the Flowers From The Farm (FFTF), the membership association established to support the UK flower farming business, which currently connects some 1000 local, seasonal flower farmers nationwide. During her tenure, Patilla oversaw the redevelopment of the association’s website during the lockdown, enabling the broadcasting of the stories, businesses, and flowers of its members. Involved in the creation of large displays for the FFTF and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, she actively contributed to the association’s ‘buy sustainable and local flowers’ message, in support of flower farmers across the country.
A mentor to florists far and wide, Patilla shared her expertise and instilled confidence in her fellow flower farmers. Hay Lane, a flower farmer from Bedford, wrote “She was also a florist I admired and gave me the confidence to create foam free, sustainable funeral arrangements, despite the negative comments from some established florists and funeral directors, telling me the flowers wouldn’t last and that it was unprofessional to use moss, willow and recyclable containers. Her work will live on as those of us that learned from her continue to promote sustainable practices within the floristry, and in particular the funeral floristry, industry.”
In memory of Patilla, Hodgson has established a prize draw on Crowdfunder to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK. The winner will receive the ‘Man and his dog’ wire sculptures that featured on the Farewell Flowers 2025 RHS Chelsea Flower Show exhibit. The draw is only open for two weeks, details can be found here.
“Carole was our inspiration here at The Farewell Flower Directory and I can’t find the words to say how much she’s missed,” said Hodgson.
