Following its successful launch in 2022, Celebration Day gives us a new opportunity each year to remember and celebrate the lives of loved ones who are no longer with us. It’s a day to connect with each other and reflect on the lives of those who have passed, whether they were friends, family, or anyone special who inspired us and shaped our lives.
Living legacy
One way to celebrate a lost loved one is to plant a ‘living legacy’ in their memory. Choose a prominent position and the plant will be a meditative focal point that offers seasonal interest and could serve as a wildlife habitat too. Observing a plant’s lifecycle across the seasons can have profound poetic resonance, especially in spring as the plant shakes off its winter senescence and surges back into growth, often with a flurry of delicate blossom.
Suitable plants might include a
A native plant is one that originated or arrived naturally in a particular place without human involvement. In the British Isles, native plants are those that were here during the last ice age or have arrived unaided since.
Fruit trees such as Malus spp and Prunus spp offer a winning combination for wildlife value, seasonal blossom and of course fruit. Try Malus ‘Evereste’ AGM (H4m) (seen in opening picture), crab apple Malus x robusta ‘Red Sentinel’ AGM (H8m) or Prunus ‘Ichiyo’ AGM (H6m).
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Variegated means having leaves or other plant parts with streaks, blotches or patches of different colours. Typically, these would be a combination of two colours, such as green and gold or green and white.
A touch of symbolism
For added symbolism there’s eastern redbud, Cercis x canadensis ‘Eternal Flame’ (H4m) or the handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrata AGM (H15m) which both have love-heart shaped leaves, or trees with a weeping habit such as goat willow Salix caprea ‘Kilmarnock’ (H2.5m) or the silver-leaved weeping pear, Pyrus salicifolia ‘Pendula’ AGM (H5m).
In smaller gardens, flowering shrubs will offer a permanent ‘feel-good’ reminder. Traditionally, roses are planted in memorial gardens, and certain cultivars are named for marketing with this in mind: Precious Memories, Thinking of You and Loving Memory. Perhaps instead look for one with an Award of Garden Merit such as Rosa ‘Compassion’ (an apricot-pink climber) or Rosa ‘Friends Forever’ (a pink floribunda) for best garden performance and buy them bare root, available from autumn to late winter, for best value and quick establishment.
In loving memory
Other plants with a memorial name include Clematis ‘Fond Memories’ and Clematis ‘Remembrance’ AGM; Dahlia ‘Celebration Party’; Delphinium ‘Celebration’ and dwarf Asiatic lily, Lilium ‘Happy Memories’. Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.
Funeral flowers, laden with symbolism, often have a simple purity of form that would make a thought-provoking addition to a garden, provided you can give them the right site and soil. A fragrant white lily such as Lilium longiflorum ‘White Heaven’ would look exquisite in a sunny border or patio pot, while Zantedeschia aethiopica ‘Crowborough’ AGM prefers damp conditions or the outer margins of a pond. Fragrant white Convallaria majalis AGM (lily of the valley) is another aromatic choice that is very effective in shade, while white snowdrops, Tulipa ‘White Triumphator’ AGM or the white goblets of Magnolia grandiflora (H15m) will make a chic spring statement in any garden.
While trees, shrubs and
Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.
Annuals are plants that complete their life cycle in one growing season. They are generally easy to grow from seed or can be bought as young plants from garden centres. Annuals are ideal for growing in summer containers and filling gaps in borders. Some examples of annuals include sunflowers, cosmos, sweet peas and zinnia.
Grief and reflection
At the 2023 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, designers Gavin McWilliam and Andrew Wilson are creating the Memoria & GreenAcres Transcendence Garden, which aims “to deliver an uplifting, spiritual and inspiring space, reflecting the emotional and cultural shared experience at the end of life”. Key design considerations were how to create an attractive graveside location for both reflection and celebration, to which those in mourning will want to return and spend time.
An RHS Flower Show Tatton Park Show Garden, the Bible Society: Psalm 27 Garden designed by Ollie Pike, is inspired by the fact ancient churchyards are often full of native wildflowers and represent rare and precious wildlife habitats across the UK. The design brings together ideas of protection, guidance and courage in the face of loss, with a dramatic yew gateway – a typical churchyard plant symbolic of immortality.
However you spent Celebration Day in 2023, don’t forget to spend some mindful ‘me-time’ in the garden, savouring a few poignant moments filled with cherished memories and happy thoughts.