Flowers are wonderful gifts Mother Nature has popping up all over the place to enhance and elevate any place you find them. They are so wonderful, in fact, that we collect flowers and arrange them in breathtaking displays and send to people we care about. Flowers have played an important role all throughout human history and we need to make sure they continue to do so. Over-farming any product or depleting natural resources will not only drive up the cost but could prevent them from being available to consumers. By practicing sustainable floristry, we are making sure future generations can continue to enjoy the beauty of flowers because they are being sourced in a responsible manner.

What Is Sustainable Floristry?

Sustainable Floristry, also known as eco-friendly and environmentally friendly floristry, is a campaign that’s evolved over the past several years encouraging florists to become more environmentally conscious and actively work towards reducing their carbon footprint. Many people are not aware that the majority of flowers purchased in the United States are imported from other countries. The environmental, social, and financial cost of sourcing flowers from large unregulated foreign farms that are then transported in planes hundreds of miles away is leaving a rather large carbon footprint on the planet. To minimize this, florists, including us here at Zeidler’s Flowers, the best florist in Evansville and Newburgh,  are banding together to work and source flowers in a more environmentally friendly way.

How Florists Are Practicing Sustainable Floristry

What makes something sustainable? The concept of sustainability is something that can be maintained long term in a manner that does not harm the environment. Sustainability employs the practice of reduce, reuse, and recycle. Sustainable products are environmentally, socially, and economically beneficial over their entire lifecycle – from extraction to disposal. Here are some examples of what florists are doing to practice sustainable floristry.

Slow Flowers

Purchasing flowers that are grown in an eco-friendly manner and as close to home as possible are known as “slow flowers.” This term also refers to flowers that are grown outside naturally, instead of in greenhouses, which are sometimes not energy efficient.

Certified Flowers

Some flowers just aren’t available locally and need to be imported, so florists are making a choice to purchase their flowers from certified sustainably grown farms that practice fair trade and follow environmental regulations.

No Foam

The once ubiquitous green foam florists used for the past 60 years is now known to be very detrimental to the environment. This one-time-use plastic is not biodegradable and contains harmful ingredients such as black carbon and formaldehyde. Green florists make it a point to avoid foam and instead rely on natural and reusable mechanics in their designs. Twigs, hemp, moss, reusable chicken-wire, and other such products are now the mechanics of choice for most florists.

Recycle, Reuse, Repurpose

Recycling as many products as possible, from boxes, to papers, and glass bottles, reusing vases and other mechanics, and repurposing leftover flowers either by donating them or composting are just a few environmentally friendly ways florists are staying green and practicing sustainability.

Why It’s Important

It’s important for all us to be environmentally aware of not only our everyday habits but of the products we purchase and whether or not we are helping or hurting the environment through our actions and choices. We all have to share this planet and we don’t want to take more than Mother Nature can give. It’s our responsibility to act now to ensure our children and future generations not only still have a habitable environment to live in but can also enjoy the wondrous gifts earth gives us, such as flowers.

Keep it green!