Green wire stems are taking over funeral arrangements

I see it more and more. People wrapping stems in that bright green florist tape. It's everywhere now. I've been doing flowers for 22 years. Back in 2002 we used brown or white tape for everything. The green tape looks cheap up close. Especially on white roses or lilies. It distracts from the flower. Anyone else notice this trend getting worse?

3 comments

3 Comments

adamk9523d ago

Oh man, I totally get what you're saying. I went to a viewing last month for my neighbor's mom and the whole arrangement was wrapped in that bright green tape. It clashed so bad with the pale pink roses they had in there. I mean, I get that florists probably think it blends in with the stems or whatever, but up close it just screams "craft store special." My aunt used to do wedding flowers on the side and she'd always use this cream colored tape that just disappeared against the stems. Idk, maybe it's just me but the green tape reminds me of those cheap grocery store bouquets they sell by the register. It takes away from the whole vibe of a funeral arrangement, you know?

elizabeths5123d ago

That "craft store special" thing hit me hard, because now all I can see is that bright tape and it's ruined funeral flowers for me. My grandmother was a hairdresser and she used to say the same thing about those little rubber bands they use on corsages, how they always turn yellow and get brittle. So I guess we're just stuck noticing the small stuff that everyone else pretends isn't there.

claire_hart5323d agoTop Commenter

That "small stuff that everyone else pretends isn't there" bit really got me thinking. Nobody ever talks about the actual smell of those funeral arrangements, not the flowers themselves but the green foam and tape. It's this weird chemical smell mixed with wet leaves that hits you the second you get close. I wonder if that's why people don't look too close at funeral flowers, because the whole thing falls apart once you get past the pretty surface. The rubber bands turning yellow is a good point too, like the flowers are a metaphor for how everything eventually gets old and crumbles.