Carole Patilla
Tuckshop Flowers
I’ve been running my business from home for over a decade since switching careers from teaching. I’ve had a love of gardening and growing things since my 20s and a desire to turn this obsession with plants and flowers into something more than a hobby finally got the better of me, so in 2012 I took the plunge and set up Tuckshop Flowers.
The business is named after my house which used to be the sweet shop (or tuck shop) for the nearby school. I grow flowers in both my garden at home and in my nearby allotment. I grow solely for my own floristry for weddings, fuenrals, events and workshops.
I never intended to be a florist and am completely self-taught. I don’t regret my lack of formal training as I set up my business because I wanted to offer something different to mainstream floristry – I wanted to offer flowers which look like a garden and didn’t want to learn how to make formal, regular arrangements.
Natural style funeral flowers are a particular passion of mine as it was the experience of creating flowers for my brother-in-law, a committed conservationist and wildlife expert, which made me realise that there are a lot folk out there who’d prefer something more natural and personalised to celebrate a life, rather than choosing from a range of fixed designs in a catalogue.
I’ve been teaching people how to make funeral flowers without floral foam for about 10 years now – through both in person workshops and via my online course ‘Green Funeral Flowers’. I can’t meet the needs of people outside my local area, so I’m always delighted to encourage more florists to offer plastic-free funeral flowers where they live. https://tuckshopflowers.thinkific.com/
In May 2024, I set up The Farewell Flowers Directory with Gill Hodgson MBE. It’s the first online listing service in the UK which puts people in touch with local florists who can offer more natural, plastic free and compostable choices for funerals. We want to change the world of funeral flowers by educating the public, the funeral trade and florists alike. You can find out more about the directory on our website: https://www.farewellflowers.co.uk
This year, we took funeral flowers to the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show and it was the first time that funeral flowers had ever been displayed there. We were delighted with our gold medal and with the public and media response to our stand. It was fantastic to see funerals and funeral flowers being openly discussed and celebrated and we hope that we’ve started conversations which will continue long after the show, and raised awareness that funeral flowers, are in essence, just ‘beautiful flowers’ like any other form of floristry and can be anything you want them to be. They don’t need to be dictated by a catalogue or by what foam-based mechanics are available.
Show Notes
There’s a need to offer a sustainable and compostable funeral flower option for clients.
There are a lot of traditions and stream lined processes within the funeral industry.
It’s time to make changes in how funerals are handled and created
I love how Carole wants to encourage florists to start taking baby steps towards being more sustainable.
She also wants encourage more florists to try and offer foam free funeral flowers. Once you’ve started you will find the confidence to build on that for future orders.
It’s important for you to believe in yourself, because this is something you can do.
One person or one business can make a difference. It’s about finding a place to start, making connections with others in your community, and step out in faith.
