A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2006 Memorial Garden Ideas Needed Please

I want to start a memorial garden in memory of our Son Andrew who passed away 2 years ago. Im looking for ideas. I a total newbie gardener and dont have a clue what "meanings" of certain flowers are and how to even design a small garden.

We have limited yard space. It will be planted where there is almost all day sun. Or early morning sun, half shade half sun in the afternoon (our trailer is sitting weird lol) and shade in the evening.

Thanks yall

That sounds like the perfect place for a small garden. From what I've read when the subject has come up designing this kind of garden depends on a couple of things.

Did your son like gardening/plants? If so the plants he favored are a good beginning place.

My son passed as a baby so things that are bright and colorful and have a pleasing texture are a good choice for him.

Also when space permits a garden seat or bench with arbor are nice to have in memorial gardens so they are easy to spend time in. That way you can add a nice climbing plant to the arbor that will create shade for the person using the seat.

If your son liked birds and butterflies you may want to go with bird & butterfly friendly plants and add a bird bath or sunning stones for the birds and butterflies.

Herbs are always a nice addition to a garden because they are aromatic.

I tried looking up the "meaning" of flowers but was somewhat disappointed with what I found. Of much more interest to me in the final decision making process were plants that had meaning to me.

If your space is large enough you may want to put a hedge around the area, the arbor, and a shade tree over it, but if you do you will have to choose shade loving plants even though the space gets full morning sun.

If you will tell us alittle more about what you are invisioning we'll probably have lots of suggestions.

One thing you may want to consider is what kind of garden will be of interest. There are bible gardens, shakespear gardens, knot gardens, rose gardens, cottage gardens, formal gardens, and many many more types. I would look at some of the garden tours to get an idea of the type of gardens that are available.

Thanks so much for the suggestions. Our son was stillborn so dont know what he would have liked. Thanks again!

Then I would definitely go for the kids garden type of plants.

here are some possibilities that were suggested for kids gardens back awhile ago in "Gardening with Disabilities". My self I'd probably be tempted to do one all in blue.

Hope you find something useful here.

Janeen Adil in Accessible Gardening also makes these neat suggestions for 20 gardens kids might really enjoy....

1) PIZZA GARDEN: tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, oregano & basil.

2) SPAGHETTI GARDEN: tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, oregano, basil and spaghetti squash.

3) CHINESE CUISINE GARDEN: snowpeas, radishes, cucumbers, Chinese cabbage, pac choi...

4) MEXICAN CUISINE GARDEN: pinto, kidney black turtle or garbanzo beans; tomatoes, hot peppers, cumin and cilantro.

5) MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE GARDEN: tomatoes, eggplant, summer squash, peppers and onions.

6) NATIVE AMERICAN GARDEN: plant the Three Sisters: corn, beans and squash.

7)HARVEST/HALLOWEEN GARDEN: pumkins, gourds, Indian corn, popcorn and sunflowers.

8) SPECIALTY GARDEN: plant six colors of peppers, four sizes of pumpkins or an assortment of popcorn for instance.

9) EDIBLE flowers GARDEN: nasturtiums,calendulas, cives, Johnny-Jump-Ups, borage, signet marigold.

10) MINIATURE rose GARDEN: of any kind

11) TEA GARDEN: mints, lemon balm, chamomile, cinnamon basil, anise hyssop.

12) A SHARING GARDEN FOR PETS/WILDLIFE: sunflowers, catnip, popcorn, birdhouse gourds, peanuts.

13) HERB GARDEN: of any kind

14) COLOR GARDEN: plant all in one color, such as yellow, red, or white.

15) TOUCHING GARDEN: lamb's ers, succulents, ferns,grasses,geraniums, mosses.

16) SCENTED GARDEN: carnations, scented geraniums, tuberose, heliotrope, mignonette, sweet peas, alyssum, nicotiana, stocks, four o'clocks, herbs.

17) MOON GARDEN: moonflowers, Madonna lily, white roses, artemisia, nicotianan, lamb's ears, night-scented stock.

18) CRAFTS GARDEN: flowers for drying (everlastings) such as statice and strawflowers, aretmesia for wreaths and large gourds for carving.

19) HUMMINGBIRD GARDEN: bee balm (monarda), lobelia, salvia, trumpet vine, snapdragon, coral bells, cardinal flower, pineappple sage, scarlet runner bean.

20) BUTTERFLY GARDEN: marigold, nasturtium, zinnia, salvia, buddleia, butterfly weed, yarrow, coreopsis, purple coneflower, cosmos, chives and lantana.

I would suggest snap draggons. I think they are a must in all gardens associated with children. They are so much fun to play with. I would maybe ask grandparents, aunts and uncles to make donations of their favorite flowers as I am sure they as well feel the loss of their lil loved one. Explain to them the growing conditions and maybe make it a special day for the entire family to go out together and pick out flowers for Andrew. It would be good therapy for anyone family members who are interested. I admire your courage in being able to put some kind of a positive spin on your loss. Too many people try to move on and not look back, it takes courage to try to fondly find a way to look back. I would also try to find long liveing flowers so you can watch them grow as the years go.

I hope this helps~

How about forget-me-nots, bleeding heart, baby's breath

So sorry for your grief at losing the child at birth.

Yes, I'd think they'd be good choice for flowers -any flowers would be fine, I think.

Thanks a lot yall

My heart goes out to you with your loss, i am so sorry for your pain.
Its such a special thing to do and after reading the posts above, any suggestion would be wonderful for you.

Wendy,
It was the same quest that brought me to the forum last summer. I wanted to honor the third anniversary of my son Peter's death. BTW in the Bible Andrew was Peter's brother. I received many wonderful suggestions and decided to try planting a variety of plants that had his name in it. Also, since so many people who knew him commented on how many butterflies were around at the time of his funeral we decided to add butterfly bushes.

There are several varieties of Azalea with the name Andrew in them. The daylily society lists several lilies with the name Andrew in them including one called Andrew's Love. Andrew's Comfort is a rose that was named in memory of a young man. Both of these are yellow. I prefer yellow flowers because my son had such a sunny disposition and I always think of him when I see yellow flowers, especially Sunflowers.

You might also consider garden ornaments that make you think of him. We chose turtles because they were Pete's favorite. He used to say if he could be any animal he would be a turtle because he could carry his home with him everywhere he went.

Don't be discouraged if it's not succesful the first time, we lost a lot of our original plants because it was so hot and dry. This kind of garden is often trial and error. Some of the honor in the memorial garden is just the trying to create something worthy and that takes effort. Best wishes.

Wendy, I'm so sorry for the loss of your son and I know the pain you must be feeling.

I like this idea because this could be a healing process for everyone involved and for you too!

Wendy, I think whatever flowers your choose will be okay because it's really not the flowers that are important! Actually, it will be all the love

This is the first I have heard of doing a memorial garden and I love the Idea. I was thinking of maybe doing one for my dog which I lost last october. Exactly what is a Bible Garden. Would love to hear ideas on that.

RobWen... I'm sorry for your loss. My daughter had a stillborn son last summer, and we put some plants into my Biblical Garden to honor him. It's a great idea. Try forget-me-nots, baby's breath, heavenly blue morning glory, perhaps a tiny angel.
The bench is a good idea too.
Ladyslipper....you were wondering about the Biblical gardens, check out mine at
< http://community.webshots.com/user/mjay1014 >
Two weeks ago, we had our congregation over for a bbq after service, and I enjoyed giving "the tour"

Robwen...When I first read your post, I was going to suggest choosing flowers that were of your son's favorite colors. But a child's garden sounds like the best way to go. I am sorry for your loss. After losing my sister to cancer just a few months ago, I myself had the very same idea, as she loved gardening and flowers. Of course, my first impulse was to turn all 320 of our acres into a garden, but then common sense prevailed. I would suggest, though, not just limiting it to flowers. Shrubs and small trees make great accents and focal points...if there is room for one. Before I take up too much room, I did want to share one thing...The day Tammy died, the giant old forsythia bush next to the front porch where we would sit, and the lilac tree just outside her bedroom window both decided to bloom. On such a tragic day, those two beautiful explosions of her favorite colors helped me find peace.