memorial garden
cooljannie
Posts: 5
Hi All. I'm new to this lark, so hope I'm doing this right! Our club want to make a memorial garden from scratch. There will obviously be some hard landscaping but we would appreciate any suggestions for appropriate plants. The plot is approx 15x10m and any planting would have to be low maintenance.
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Posts
Goodness, that is a great idea but the question probably has about as many answers as there are plants, several million probably!
Who is going to care for the garden, you mention your club, may I be so personal as to ask what kind of age range is involved? What are you making the memorial for? The colour scheme needs thinking about, as to what might be appropriate for whatever/whomsoever you wish to remember. There are many named roses and other plants that might be appropriate but they do need some care. Smaller shrubs like hebes (not the tall ones I think), hardy geraniums can be nice, lots of spring bulbs - maybe a little more information would be helpful?
Thanks for your reply, Bookertoo. We are an ex-services club with many members who were not actually in the services! There will be some kind of plaque in memorial. As far as colour scheme, I thought maybe softer restful tones would be suitable. Membership is from 20years upward, but the maintenance will probably be carried out by the older element. Roses sound a lovely suggestion.
There are many plants in the softer tones that may do well - you do need to know what kind of soil you have, when the light falls upon the plot and in what direction it faces - some things need a south or west position, others a more shady or cool north to east situation. If alot of maintenance might be less possible, then such things as nepeta (comes in sizes from 8 inches to a couple of feet or more), salvias, hardy geraniums and other soft textured and coloured plants may be to your liking. Roses come in as many arieties as you can imagine, modern scented disease resitant ones are available - try some rose web sites, you might find some witha name that is appropriate for your area. Putting just a few among other planting looks both pretty and modern, and is is now known that keeping roses apart from each other reduces diseases. If you try something tender, will there be anywhere for winter protection - if not, stick with really hardy things - much dpenends where you are for that, but winters are not likely to get warmer I suspect. Do you wish to be organic? Some things are better than others in that case, although all of my garden and pots is so. Spring bulbs are pretty well a must as the site wakes up after the winter. Putting some in that will come back year on year is a good idea. small shrubs to shelter them when the weather is bad keeps them safe and keeps the site less boring int he winter. There are some good bulb sites out there as well. You need to think very carefully about your hard landscaping - who will use it, do you need access for the less able? Are you going to have any shelter, seating areas, do you want scent? This is a lovely project, so please take your time and get it right to start with, especially the hard landscaping, plants can be moved, other things less easily. There is much to think about and be concerned with, take your time, it is worth it in the end.
Thanks Bookertoo. There certainly is a lot to think about. You are dead right - it needs to be done properly from the off, so we will consider all you have said. Thanks again