Forum home Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Planting up my grandmother's abandoned grave

I've only just managed to find my grandmother's abandoned grave and am planning to visit it this week. She died back in 1977 and to my knowledge no one has been since, so I'm guessing it will be a bit of a mess.

 I've got all my heavy duty gardening tools packed in the car, and have bought some multi packs of yellow bulbs (alliums, crocuses, narcissi and mini tulips) to take along too. I'm also digging up some of my ajugas to take along, as they're tough as old boots and will spread happily, with minimal intervention from me.

 also collected many wild poppy seeds last year and was wondering, if I sprinkle them over the top of the grave, once in have planted the bulbs,raking in lightly, will the seeds germinate in spring?

Her grave is very far from me and I may not be able to get to it at exactly the right time to scatter the poppy seeds, so it would be good to be able to do as much as possible this Friday, when I go.

That's also the main reason for sticking to bulbs, which can be left alone to spread, plus ajugas. 

Has anyone got any other ideas about good stuff to put on a grave, especially when I won't be around very often to tend to it?

 

«13

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,138

    Hi Jess image

    It's lovely that you've been able to discover where your grandmother's grave is.  However, before you plant/sow things on it, it would be as well to check out the regulations relating to the cemetary/churchyard that she's been buried in. 

    Although no family may have visited for a while, it's unlikely that the grave will have been allowed to become overgrown and unsightly.  Most graveyards are maintained and mown, or are nurtured as wildlife sites. 

    Planting up a grave may cause real difficulties for the person who mows the area, so it'll be best to check it out first. image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Help Dove! It tells me you've replied, yet the is no post from you to see.

    computer says no image

  • Hello, thank you for your reply - maybe I'll ring them first to check. Although I was told last time I rang that her grave didn't have grass on it. I can see your post now - for some strange reason you had ended up on my 'to ignore' list !!

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,138

    imageimageimage


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Noooooooo, don't cry, I have no idea how you got in there!

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,138

    image  Have a piece of Lemon Drizzle cake?

    I'm trying not to do the ironing image


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • That's my favourite too image

    Git in touch with cemetary and her grave is raised up slightly, so apparently no problem to sow or plant in it. Yay!

  • That's a good one pansy, thank you.

    Manages with very little care or watering.

  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,023

    We planted roses on my brother's grave years ago, but the maintenance chap mowed them down and we were told it was too awkward to mow if people planted up graves.

    But the graveyard where my parents are has lots of planted up graves, some very pretty. Lots have bulbs and also there are a lot of hardy fuschias. Before my mother died we chose 3 hardy fuschias for my father's grave and they look lovely in summer. My mother is now in the grave with him so my brother dug everything up before her funeral and replanted them. Fuschias only need a visit in early spring to cut down the old wood.

    My father gave me a horse called Lena and one of the fuschias is called Lena.

    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,064

     Rosemary isn't that hardy in cold parts of the country.  I would suggest geranium macrorhizum for ground cover.  Scented foliage, white, pink or deep pink flowers in late spring and the foliage turns red in winter.    Bulbs will come through with no bother and their dying foliage will be hidden by it.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
Sign In or Register to comment.