Life in the Garden

Matters of Life and Death

planning a memorial garden

Weeping Cherry Tree Memorial

weeping cherry tree

In The Mailbox: One of our clients sent a nice note thanking us for our assistance and the recommendation of a Weeping Cherry for a tree dedication. The Weeping Cherry is one of my favorite ornamental trees and a stunning centerpiece for a memorial tribute. Check your zone out on a garden map, the Weeping Cherry does best in zones 5-8.

Added bonus for the Weeping Cherry tree is they are generally pest and disease resistant and don’t require a lot of pruning.

Here’s an example of a tree dedication, using a personalized river rock garden stone and a Weeping Cherry tree to honor Dave. Simple and elegant.

weeping cherry tree dedication

And then this:

Dear Lenette,

Thank you so much for all that you did to make Nelda’s memorial service even better than she had planned it.

I have always felt that the worst part of any funeral is the time when you leave the cemetery and leave behind someone you loved and have spent a lifetime with. Thanks to your generosity, I brought Nelda home with me and that was such a comfort at a very bad time.

The urn was beautiful (“bee-u-tee-full”, as Nelda would say) and M. loves and cherishes her urn necklace.

Thank you for letting us serve you.

memorial stone

Simple Pleasures in the Garden

Earlier this Spring, I threw some seed down and these beauties sprang from the soil. Wish I knew what they’re called. Last fall, my neighbor let me harvest the seed, she said they were an old plant and didn’t know what they were.

Not only are they beautiful, they are hardy, the soil isn’t that great, and I haven’t done a thing to them. Added bonus: the hummingbirds love them.

If you want some, leave a comment and I’ll share the love.

Butterfly Memorial Garden

butterfly

We’ve had several schools call that are doing memorial gardens on the grounds. Tree dedication stones for a couple of kids that lost their dads. And today? A memorial stone to place in a butterfly garden to honor one of the teacher’s who’s lost a child.

The client didn’t want anything that looked too “cemetery-ish”.

butterfly garden

A personalized river rock tucked in beside a butterfly bush is a lovely lasting tribute.

Bleeding Hearts

bleeding heart

A welcome sight in the early Spring garden. Bleeding Hearts are hardy and easy to grow (and toxic). My Bleeding Hearts have taken a lot of abuse over the years and still come back every season. The original plant in my garden has been split and divided several times and moved all about the property, been peed and trampled on by the A-Team, and still remained strong and beautiful.

They like light shade and can tolerate a heavy clay soil. Most are pink but occasionally you’ll see a white Bleeding Heart. By the end of summer, they stop blooming and turn a lime green. That’s when I cut ’em back.
white bleeding heart

The only problem? Slugs love em.