Funeral flowers are meant to serve as a tribute to the deceased at the funeral service. These flowers should never be sent to the home as they are too formal, large and inappropriate for a home or office. Flowers are used as a symbol of sympathy and respect and are common at funerals in many cultures around the world.
Sometimes it is difficult to decide which flowers to present at the funeral. Here are a few flowers that are used in most culture settings around the world at funeral services.
Roses
Roses make a stunningly elegant effect at a funeral. They convey classiness while maintaining simplicity. Red roses symbolize love and passion, but in many cultures they also indicate courage. Pink roses are considered as more feminine and graceful. They also happen to serve as a reminder to people of hope beyond their immediate sadness of a deceased loved one. White and yellow roses may also be used to indicate peace, innocence and love and are perhaps the perfect fit for sympathy purposes. Although, roses can be used with all types of flower arrangements, roses go especially well in coffin spray arrangements.
Carnations
Carnations are found in a multitude of colors and are long-lasting. The fact that they don’t wilt easily and quickly conveys the message that you care about the family who has suffered the loss and that you are there for them should they need you. The best thing about carnations is that there is no particular season for them which would make it difficult and costly to buy or arrange at any even. They are available year round, making them one of the most widely used funeral flowers. Each color has its meaning when sent as funeral flowers. Red carnations are often used as a base to prepare floral wreaths, and indicate strength. White and pink varieties are, most of the times, used in combination with other flowers to give a textured look to floral arrangements. The fact that they are not very expensive allows their use in an extensively greater proportion for casket sprays.
Orchids
Orchids are flowers that are found in almost all parts of the world. They that are elegant and have a sense of grace about them. Orchids are used in funeral flower arrangements to convey everlasting love to the deceased as don’t wilt easily. While they can be seasonal, Orchids are almost always available in one or the other part of the country, especially in tropical countries.
Lilies
Lilies are multi-purpose and are used as sympathy and funeral flowers along with other events. The way you use lilies as funeral flowers will depend on the variety available as these are seasonal flowers. Asiatic lilies, for example, have smaller flower-heads and go well in sprays. Longiflorum lilies are available as white flowers only and are best used tied in sheaths to give an elegant, traditional appearance to present at a funeral service. To give prominence to funeral tributes, it’s best to use Oriental lilies because they open completely and look exquisite and peaceful. To symbolize eternal life, lilies are often used in many cultures for casket arrangements. Calla lilies give more peaceful appearance on lid sprays. However, these can be quite expensive.
Irises
Irises clearly convey the message of hope and faithfulness towards the deceased and the bereaved family. The calming blue of the iris makes it one of the most graceful of flowers. These flowers are best used in combination with white-colored flowers of any variety. Irises are less expensive than other similarly hued flowers. They are available almost the whole year round and are one of the very few flowers that are blue in color and share a sense of equal peace and grace about them.
Apart from these, there are other funeral and sympathy flowers including chrysanthemums, hyacinths and even wreaths and foliage arrangements do well sometimes. First and foremost, when looking for appropriate funeral and sympathy flowers, you should have a good knowledge of the culture that particular deceased person and his/her family belongs to. The colors and flower types sometimes vary greatly from culture to culture for funeral and sympathy purposes.