Flowers are uniquely beautiful, colorful, fragrant, and come in a range of sizes and interesting shapes. They are an integral part of every culture on the planet and one of the most beautiful gifts from Mother Nature. When flowers are collected and arranged by expert floral designers into awe-inspiring designs, we can’t help but marvel at the wondrous magnificence of flowers. Without flowers, our lives wouldn’t be nearly as special, and that’s why it’s so important we support sustainable floristry.

What Is Sustainable Floristry?

Sustainability refers to the practice of being able to maintain something because it is environmentally friendly and follows the principle of reduce, recycle, and reuse. If something is produced without harming the environment over its entire life cycle, from extraction to disposal, then that is a sustainable product. Many florists, including us here at Rose Hill Flowers, Nashville’s best florist, we have joined a movement known as sustainable floristry, or environmentally friendly floristry, where we perform green practices not only in our everyday work life but also in our choices regarding from where we source our flowers.

How Florists Are Practicing Sustainable Floristry

Slow Flowers

Slow Flowers are flowers that are grown locally, or as close as possible, and farmed in an environmentally friendly way with minimal, if any, pesticides. The environment and financial costs of importing flowers from other countries versus locally are drastic. To leave as small a carbon footprint as possible, florists have begun partnering with local growers and “certified sustainably grown” farms. This is not only good for the environment but good for local economies as well.

No Green Foam

Green floral foam is a one-time use plastic product that was a staple in creating designs in many florist shops. However, this foam is very damaging to the environment. Besides containing elements of formaldehyde and black carbon, it is not biodegradable. Rather, it breaks down into a microplastic that pollutes our oceans, kills our marine life, and is harmful to humans as well. Avoiding green foam at all costs in instrumental in maintaining a green work life. Plus, there are many natural substitutes floral designers are using now such as twigs, moss, recyclable materials, and reusable items for their mechanics.

Proper Waste Management

Being green means practicing environmentally friendly actions every day such as recycling boxes, paper, bottle, conserving water, turning out lights and using energy-efficient flower coolers, etc. Little steps add up to big changes over time.

Reducing Plastic

Our seas are being choked by plastics. Replacing plastic with organic materials, reusable, or recyclable products is one way to break our dependence on them and help our planet.

Upcycling and Repurposing

Most florists have some type of vase recycling program where customers can bring in vases for us to use. Also, instead of throwing away leftover flowers, these stems can be donated to nursing homes or hospitals or local farmers who request them for composting.

Why It Matters

We all have one planet to share, so it’s up to us to make sure we leave it in better shape than it is now for our children and future generations. Do your part!

Shop local instead of large corporations who most likely aren’t as “green” as a smaller company. Plus, you’d be supporting your local economy.

Skip the grocery store flowers wrapped in plastic and instead go to your local florist. You’ll get fresher, higher-quality flowers that will last much longer, and that means more bang for your buck!

Recycle your old flowers instead of just throwing them away. Make potpourri, candles, bath bombs, or press or dry your flowers to preserve them. Flowers are just too special to immediately dump in the trash.

Here at Rose Hill Flowers, we are doing our part! Here are just a few of the green practices we are doing:

• We recycle, glass, cardboard, plastics.
• We also compost all of our organic materials.
• 80% of all the glass vases used are made from recycled material
• We use recycled wood-pulp containers for much of our sympathy work and party work.
• We use as many fresh flower products as we can that are part of the Rainforest Alliance certification program.
• Most of our gourmet items are of our Tennessee Agriculture Department’s “Pick Tennessee” products

If you’d like more information on sustainable floristry or ways in which we’re helping the environment, please contact us, and have a very green day!