SOMERSET has landed another gold medal at the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show – this time with funeral arrangements.

Florist and flower farmer Georgie Newbery, of Common Farm Flowers, Charlton Musgrove, near Wincanton, is part of the Farewell Flowers Collective, who created a funeral scene in the Great Pavilion at the show.

This is the first time funeral flowers have been arranged and displayed at RHS Chelsea in its 113-year history – and landed the garden the gold – with celebrity visitors among those taking in the development.

The news comes after fellow Somerset gardener, Joshua Parker, was part of a team that secured a gold medal at the 2025 show.

READ MORE: Chickpeas and Levi Roots help Somerset gardener land RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold

Ahead of the event, in London, Georgie worked with three other florists for months to plan and create their interpretation of a funeral scene.

Featuring a willow coffin decorated with natural, seasonal and all British flowers and foliage as its centrepiece, the scene also includes a wirework sculpture of a man and his dog visiting a graveyard, surrounded by personal funeral tributes, as examples of sustainable funeral floristry now available to people wanting to pay a floral tribute to a loved one.

All arrangements on display were made using sustainable floristry techniques, free of plastic floral foam and single-use plastic, and fully compostable.

“Talking with visitors to the installation, from Joanna Lumley and Kirsty Alsopp, to Alan Titchmarsh, made me realise how we had struck a chord with people who want an eco alternative when celebrating the lives of their loved ones,” Georgie said.

“There were tears dashed and cathartic moments as well as stories told of lives well lived and loved ones lost.

“A florist always knows they’ve done a great job when the customer wells up with emotion when they see their flowers and making funeral flowers at Chelsea was just such another occasion for tears and laughter – death is part of life so it seems a shame to wrap it in plastic-based funeral flowers.”

Georgie Newbery has been at the forefront of the British flowers movement for more than 15 years.

She grows and cuts up to 100,000 stems a year, used in her own arrangements, as well as by other local florists, and also sold by the ‘bucket’ to people wanting to do their own floristry.

Georgie does this alongside her work supporting others in the industry on the practices of flower farming, as well as teaching workshops and demos to share her skills.

Ahe added: “The ethos of Common Farm Flowers is that if we look after the invertebrates then the rest of the food chain will look after itself, so offering sustainable floristry and cut flowers is something we have always done.

“Much of our flower farm is left wild and the areas we do cultivate are done so without the use of chemicals.

“We then apply this concept to our floristry, ensuring all our arrangements are fully compostable. It therefore made perfect sense to me to say yes to the opportunity to highlight how funeral flowers can also be arranged in a way that is kind to the environment.”

For more about Common Farm Flowers, visit commonfarmflowers.com or follow them on Instagram @commonfarmflowers.