Plants Suitable for Planting in Cemeteries

Many cemeteries today offer perpetual care, and there is little contribution a family can make to a gravesite. But smaller and more rural graveyards still allow, or even need, the involvement of family members in the landscaping around a loved one’s grave. Goths that are interested in performing community service might consider cleaning up a local cemetery that has been neglected, and reworking or adding to the natural landscaping.

If the cemetery is not going to have constant care, it is important that any plants placed in the landscape be easy to care for, require little trimming, and look somewhat appealing most of the year. These suggestions for suitable plants come from Astrological Gardening by Louise Riotte.

Trees
Evergreen trees are the most obvious choice, and have been planted in graveyards for centuries. If the plot for which the tree is intended is small, the evergreen should be a small, slow-growing one, like some of the yews or junipers. Also popular for graveyards are flowering trees, especially in the south. Some suggestions include: dogwoods, redbuds, flowering plum, pear or crabapple, and magnolias. Japanese maples, which are very striking, are also another good choice.
Groundcovers
Ground covers are easier to maintain than lawns, since lawns require frequent mowing. In shady areas, English ivy, vinca (also known as periwinkle), hostas, and hardy ferns all make excellent groundcovers. Ivy, in particular, is able to thrive in areas many other plants cannot. Pachysandra will grow in either partial sun or shade, and is like ivy in that it prospers where other plants simply cannot grow, like densely shaded, dry, or densely rooted areas. Crown vetch is an excellent choice for full sun. This plant is used to control soil erosion because it grows quickly, spreads, and is maintenance-free. It will also choke out any weeds that try to grow. Euonymus is a broadleaf evergreen that grows in either sun or shade, and the species E. colorata has leaves that turn purplish red in the fall. Blue rug juniper is another attractive choice for a dry area.
Flowers
Many of the groundcovers have attractive flowers, including vinca, crown vetch, and hostas. Bulbs, such as daffodils, irises, grape hyacinths, and daylilies, make a nice addition to the landscape, and will come back up year after year. Roses are one of the most popular flowers to plant, but many varieties will get seedy looking unless they are properly cared for.

Cemeteries as Horticultural Repositories

A recent article in Southern Living (November 1996) discussed the cemetery as a storehouse of plants as opposed to a storehouse of bodies. Many of the plants found in older cemeteries reflect the horticultural tastes of a different era, and sometimes antique varieties of plants thought lost are found growing in a graveyard. One example of this is the white musk-rose (Rosa moschata), which was thought to be nonexistent in the US, but was found in Charlotte’s Elmwood Cemetery and Richmond’s Hollywood Cemetery. Rural cemeteries are often “preserves” which contain endangered wild species of plants, such as some wild orchids. Before you do any landscaping, make sure you aren’t disturbing anything valuable or rare.

Cemeteries also functioned in the capacity of “testing grounds” for plants that are now common in our yards and gardens. Burford holly was first planted in Westview Cemetery in Atlanta, but is now a common denizen in many southern yards. A cemetery in Miami, Woodlawn Park Cemetery North, was the place of introduction for many species of tropical and subtropical trees. Not only are the trees found in cemeteries often unusual, but they may also be the oldest and largest specimens of their species, since these trees weren’t often targets to be cut down. In Louisville, the Cave Hill Cemetery has twenty-five trees that are the largest of their kind growing in Kentucky.

Cemeteries are not only memorials to the dead; they also have a very important function as horticultural repositories.
Botanical Headstones

And now for something completely different, here are some headstones which have plant motifs. Plant representations carved into gravestones often have obvious religious associations. In other cases, the significance isn’t clear. These are photos I took in Oak Hill Cemetery here in Athens, Ga. I’m not much of a photographer, though….