Behind the Scenes of ‘Farewell Flowers’ at Chelsea with Lindum Turf

Gill Hodgson is an East Yorkshire farmer who took British flowers from relative obscurity to a recognised premier brand and picked up RHS Chelsea gold medals in 2018 and 2025.

She is the founder of Flowers From The Farm Ltd. Together with other members she provided all the flowers in Westminster Abbey for the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla and had the honour of being present in the Abbey to receive Their Majesties thanks.

Always a champion of seasonal flowers, Gill went on to co-found The Farewell Flowers Directory to help grieving families find plastic-free arrangements and encourage florists to ditch floral foam by highlighting alternative methods.
She was awarded an MBE for services to floristry in 2024.

Back in May 2024 I searched out Lindum’s stand at Chelsea Flower Show to have a look at their Species Rich turf. I’d read that Lindum had won Chelsea’s Sustainable Garden Product of the Year in 2023 and wanted to see it for myself.

I’d just co-founded The Farewell Flowers Directory Ltd www.farewellflowers.co.uk with my friend Carole Patilla, and we were planning to appear at Chelsea ourselves in 2025 with a 100% plastic-free stand – hence our interest in Lindum’s product.

From our very first chat, Lindum were full of information, and I was very impressed with the turf. I even visited their site at Thorganby where Andy couldn’t have been friendlier or more helpful. Carole and I had already decided against using their colourful wildflower turf as we wanted a less ‘busy’ background for the beautiful funeral flowers we were planning to display.

Fast forward a year and we arrived in the Great Pavilion to find 13 square metres of Lindum’s Species Rich turf waiting for us as agreed and it was perfect for our needs. The clover was filling out nicely and the very first spikes of the taller grasses were on the brink of shooting up.

I’d grown additional Meadow Buttercup in plugs and used them to enrich the turf. It was easy to do and added the pop of colour that we needed.

We were the first people ever to display funeral flowers at Chelsea Flower Show in its 112-year history and, as if that wasn’t enough, were absolutely delighted to be awarded a gold medal - helped by Lindum’s quality turf with its good environmental credentials.

 -Gill Hodgson MBE, Farewell Flowers