Exactly three years ago — on June 12, 2016 — a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub, Pulse, in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people and injuring 68 others. Today, survivors and sympathizers attended a remembrance ceremony.

An annual tradition, the ceremony this year included bouquets of flowers from the Florida State Florists’ Association (FSFA) — created by a combination of top-tier, longtime designers and newcomers to the floral industry.

“Last year after things wrapped up at FSFA’s convention, I was heading to the airport listening to coverage of the anniversary of the shooting,” remembered Mark Anderson of Floristware, a provider of software for florists. “Suddenly, I was wishing I had thought to take the beautiful arrangement that Robbin Yelverton AIFD, AAF, PFCI, made for my table and lay it at the memorial.”

That compassionate impulse led to a series of emails and phone conversations. In early 2019, with the blessing of the FSFA board, Anderson began a dialogue with the board of onePULSE, a foundation created in the wake of the 2016 tragedy. Besides organizing the remembrance ceremony, the foundation offers support to survivors and victims’ families. It has endowed scholarships in the names of each of the victims and is actively creating educational programs in pursuit of “amity among all segments of society.”

This year’s remembrance ceremony followed the conclusion of the FSFA convention by only three days. Like every other floral-industry event, the convention, which took place at a resort about an hour outside of Orlando, typically ends with perfectly fresh flowers left over from the design programs and venue decorations.

“During the convention I made several announcements,” said Deborah De La Flor AIFD, PFCI, of De La Flora Florist & Gardens in Cooper City, Florida, who served as one of the convention organizers. “And when the whole program was done, I told everyone they needed to go to the design room right next door, because many hands make light work.”

Convention attendees made hand-tied bouquets from the leftover flowers using wraps donated by Decowraps and clear plastic sleeves donated by Passion Growers, both at De La Flor’s prior request. The wraps were lime green on one side and decked in rainbow colors on the other. Since the surplus flowers were miscellaneous, and the designers were allowed perfect freedom, the result was a collection of bouquets that were all different, yet given a unified look by the wrappings — a poignant way of representing the separate individuality of each of the victims and the philosophy of the foundation.

Those who made the bouquets ranged from floral-industry rock stars, like De La Flor and Jacob McCall AIFD, AAF, to convention participants who had never designed before. “We wanted to encourage everyone who was in attendance to get together and do it,” said outgoing FSFA president Christi Brown of Roses Are Red in Indialantic and Violets in Bloom in Melbourne, Florida. Experienced designers patiently coached the others.

Once the bouquets were made, they were stored and delivered by John Kobylinski of In Bloom Florist in Orlando, who also donated much of the product for use at the convention. (In Bloom played a lead role in organizing the industry after the shooting three years ago, and the business has been active in memorial efforts since.)

By tradition, the remembrance ceremony includes a memorial wall, a place where visitors can put up pictures, tie ribbons, and leave messages. Last year, people put flowers on the wall, grabbing the flowers from boxes donated by Trader Joe’s, said Anderson.

“This year, they can still add their notes and bring their own flowers, but it will be off to a big start with these beautiful rainbow bouquets everywhere,” he said.

“I’m hoping it will turn into an annual project where we always do something hands on,” said Brown, “whether we take them to a nursing home or a cemetery or somewhere else. And there were still some left over to give to the staff!”

Bruce Wright is a contributing writer for the Society of American Florists.