Sustainable church flowers are changing the way churches decorate their buildings, encouraging methods that are beautiful but mindful of the environment.
Beaulieu Abbey Church has hosted a Sustainable Church Flowers Symposium which was a practical workshop for flower teams across the Lyndhurst Deanery.
With home grown blooms and materials gathered from around the area, such as branches, blossoms, seed heads and catkins, they explored new approaches to church floral designs. They compared stories of practices around their churches, the worries and challenges of sourcing environmentally friendly products and how these could be shared across the deanery.
Rector Revd Catherine Cowie described the day as refreshingly down-to-earth. “It was less rulebook, more hedgerow wander,” she said, “the day offered a creative reset as much as it did a practical workshop.”
The day was led by Fr Benji Tyler, Vicar of Chippenham and a founding member of Sustainable Church Flowers, a growing network of clergy, flower arrangers and church communities.
Revd Catherine continued, “Without ever sounding preachy, he nudged us to rethink what ‘beautiful’ really means in a church setting. Turns out, a slightly wonky stem or a wind-shaped branch can say far more than something perfectly polished. There was a real sense of permission in the room, to experiment, to play, and to let go of the idea that church flowers have to look a certain way. What lingered wasn’t just the arrangements themselves, but the shift in perspective. This wasn’t about cutting back or going without, it was about noticing more, using what’s already around us, and finding beauty in the ordinary.”
The group later broke into teams and created decorations around Beaulieu Abbey Church.
Earlier this year, the General Synod backed a motion from the Diocese of Worcester, urging churches and cathedrals to explore ways of arranging flowers that could be beautiful and environmentally responsible.
The motion did not introduce any rules or bans. Instead, it encouraged churches, wherever possible, to consider using seasonal, locally sourced flowers and foliage, and to phase out single‑use floral foam, a product which cannot be recycled or composted. The motion highlighted the use of alternatives such as reusable vessels, twigs, moss and chicken wire.
Flowers are an established part of church life, and the decision reflected a growing awareness of the impact traditional floristry can have on the planet.
The Sustainable Church Flowers network provides online resources, tutorials and local ambassadors to help churches and flower arrangers explore new techniques and celebrate the beauty of creation in worship.
Revd Catherine is also a clergy ambassador of Sustainable Church Flowers. She concluded, “One of my aims is to embrace rural life here in parish, whilst also embracing the importance of churches being for the glory of God. This glory of God should never be about damaging God’s creation. It’s counter-cultural and counter-intuitive if what we’re bringing in to celebrate and worship God is doing damage to the world around us.
“I want people to feel they can embrace fully the gifts they have around them in the hedgerows, in the gardens, and release the fear of what something should be and enabling it to just be, because in the being is God’s power and beauty and grace.”
Get Church of England tips on how to make your church flowers sustainable here.
