Memorial gardens

There are differing views on whether memorial gardens are appropriate. If a person, such as a child, never had an interest in gardening, some feel such have little impact. To others, even planting a tree or shrub in someone's memory, even if it has no significance to the person, reminds them of that person every time they see or work with this plant or garden. With this remembrance their personality and shared wonderful times come back to life, providing solace.

Even though my father never knew what a mountain ash was, I liked the tree so planted one in his memory. Every time I viewed or watered it I thought of him. The past tense is appropriate, as the tree recently died from disease. I plan to plant another, perhaps a different tree, in his memory. Yet even this death of my memorial tree reflects that life and death are a part of gardening just as in the life of a person.

Instead of a plaque or memorial that lasts, some like to plant a mass of perennials or a grove of native trees. These are allowed to reseed, so as the original plants die, new seedlings grow. This carries the planting along for many years, much longer than a single plant. Candidates for such perennials might be mallows, garden phlox, and lupines, and for annuals try cosmos or spider flower. Just make sure their reseeding wont be cause problems where sited.

If a person was interested in gardening, their passions would be a good place to start in creating a memorial garden. Perhaps they were fond of a plant such as rhododendron, phlox, or hollyhocks, which by planting will remind you of them. Perhaps the person liked a food such as applesauce, or wines, so you might plant an apple tree or grapes to trigger memories. My mother was fond of herbs, so I keep a small herb garden in her memory. Others keep alive memories of friends through plants given to them by that person.