The passing of Queen Elizabeth II has come with an overwhelming amount of attention: At least 250,000 mourners lined up to see her coffin, millions (if not billions) tuned in to watch the broadcast of her funeral, and then there were the flowers.

To celebrate the Queen’s life and legacy, Brits have left a vast blanket of cut flowers around the capital, entire sites, parks, and sidewalks covered in blooms, cards, and more. But what happens to those flowers now?

As it turns out, the Crown Estate has a plan (and an eco-minded one at that): beginning tonight, the flowers will be taken to a composting center and turned into mulch to be used on royal grounds. For now, visitors are invited to lay wrapping-free tributes to Queen Elizabeth II in The Green Park and Hyde Park, to which the wealth of existing florals are being relocated.

“Labels and cards will be separated from flowers and stored,” relays the Royal Parks. “Once floral tributes are removed, they will be taken to the Hyde Park nursery for processing to remove any remaining packaging, cards, and labels and to separate plant material for composting in nearby Kensington Gardens.”

Once broken down, the material will be given new life in various landscaping projects throughout the royal parks. That’s what we call compost fit for a Queen.

Compost, Composting, Flowers, News