Zero Waste Altar Flowers

Whether a small bouquet on the kitchen table or a magnificent arrangement to grace the altar, flowers delight the eye and warm the heart, and can bring pleasurable moments of memory and scent. Care for homegrown flowers can be easy, as our home gardens are not typically supplying florists or farm markets. A wee bit of fertilizer or compost can make a big difference, but that’s pretty much all it takes.

Flowers for the consumer market, however, require immense amounts of fertilizer, plant food, and other chemicals to keep them fresh and long lasting, not to mention transport life during travel from warmer climes. Many of the flowers we see in the grocery stores come from growers in South America, Africa, or California. In short, the care and feeding of flowers can be an environmental and ecological disaster.

Members of the Nativity Flower Guild, who create the weekly altar arrangements, use home grown blooms and greens whenever possible. For the last 3 years zinnias and marigolds from the Community Garden have featured in altar arrangements, along with local ferns and other yard greenery. Many of our parishioners welcome altar flower seekers to their gardens for browsing and cutting. It’s surprising what can be used to complement any arrangement – all it takes is a look around the yard. Ferns, spiky leaves of yucca, liriope, Rose of Sharon before it blooms – even the invasive privet – make a nice addition to a vase.

Our purchase of flowers for Nativity’s altar and events has taken us from always using the local wholesalers and the grocery stores, and now, most recently, more reliance – when possible – on homegrown or locally grown flowers. Several growers and flower farmers in the area have supplied us with their organically grown floral goods, including those in Cary, Clayton, and Raleigh.

It’s just ecologically sound to use, when possible, flowers and greens that have not been sprayed or dipped within an inch of their lives with chemicals. There is a movement around the world toward more organic flower farming, and demand for locally grown flowers, as evidenced by several groups to which some of us belong. These farmers are passionate about providing locally grown, organically farmed flowers. In fact, you may have heard of an upcoming royal wedding in the UK where the couple have retained a florist known for her use of seasonal flowers and greenery, working with local growers and fair trade farms. We’re in good company!

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with buying those 3/$12 bunches of nice flowers at the grocery store. It’s a nice, inexpensive way to bring a little beauty into your home. Just know that they ARE covered in chemicals and have traveled a long way to your store. So think about that when you want some flowers in your life…ask around your neighborhood, go to a farmer’s market where flower farmers sell, or just look around your yard. It’ll be a feel-good, Zero Waste thing.