Today’s cemeteries bloom with colorful artificial flowers left by loved ones as memorials to the deceased. Though the material composition is modern, the practice of adorning graves with botanical decorations is not. From at least the mid-19th century and into the early 20th century, families regularly used long-living plants as a form of memorialization.
Common choices in Texas included roses, crepe myrtles, vinca, yucca, and evergreen trees such as ashe juniper and arborvitae. Of all the botanical offerings, however, bulbs were the most popular. In Texas cemeteries, frequently found examples include iris, narcissus, jonquils, amaryllis, crinum, and spider lily, among many others.
Our ancestors likely chose bulbs as memorial plants for various reasons. For one, they are quite hardy, reliably bloom year after year, and survive with very little to no care—perfect for cemetery settings with no irrigation and infrequent visitation. Because bulbs are easy to propagate and transport over long distances, they are perfect passalong plants, allowing for exchange among friends and family. No doubt many of the bulbs still growing in Texas cemeteries are the offspring of those carted here by early settlers—arriving from places near and far, but bringing with them sentimental plants associated with the beloved places and people they left behind.
We encourage cemetery stewards to identify, document, and preserve memorial plants. They are part of the cultural landscape and contribute to a cemetery’s overall historic character. They deserve the same amount of attention we give to gravestones. In situations where a grave was never marked with a traditional gravestone, a memorial plant might be the only indicator of its existence, which is all the more reason to identify and preserve them. (Consider this: we’ve been in cemeteries with just a handful of stone grave markers, yet they contain dozens, if not hundreds, of burials. The only evidence of the number of burials was the predominance of cemetery plants such as iris and vinca.)
Right now, in late winter and very early spring, it is a good time to look for bulbs. Many types are evergreen or are beginning their growth spurt, and their bright green leaves are easy to spot while the rest of the landscape is still dormant. Mark them as a way to protect them from being accidentally mowed down later in the spring when the rest of the groundcovers shoot up and overwhelm them. Instruct caretakers to carefully hand-trim the grass around memorial plants.
Finally, if you are caring for a cemetery landscape that has been neglected for a long time, we encourage you to include a comprehensive plant inventory as part of your preservation plan before you begin any vegetation clean-up or maintenance. This will require some patience, as you’ll need to build your inventory over an entire year or more. That’s because not all plants grow and bloom in the same season. You’ll be able to identify some in the spring, but others won’t be apparent until summer, or even fall or winter. Over time, these plants can propagate profusely and can spread far away from the original planting site. So, you’ll need to plan for periodic thinning and corralling when they get too wild.
If you need assistance with plant identification or learning how to maintain them, consider reaching out to your local chapter of the Texas Master Gardener Program or the Texas Master Naturalist Program. For further reading, please see “Summer Perennials – From An Old Cemetery To My Garden.”
To learn more about how archeologists study plants as they investigate historic sites—including cemeteries—read these two articles authored by THC’s Cemetery Preservation Program Coordinator, Jenny McWilliams:
- Plants as a Reflection of Culture and Popularity in Historic Cemeteries in Central and East Texas
- Historic Plants as Artifacts: Living Plants as a Type Classification for Historic Sites
Both articles are published in the Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Vol. 88, 2017, which is available here through The Portal to Texas History.