Cemetery gardening: grave planting and maintenance

The tradition

I draw inspiration trom the German tradition of cemetery gardening. The primary role of the Cemetery Gardener (“Friedhofsgärtner”) is to ensure that a grave looks beautiful and cared for at all times. Cemetery Gardeners work for families who are not able to maintain their loved ones’ grave for reasons of distance, time or physical ability (including a lack of green fingers!).

Cemetery Gardening is a profession which combines gardening, plant propagation and floristry.

The tradition

I draw inspiration trom the German tradition of cemetery gardening. The primary role of the Cemetery Gardener (“Friedhofsgärtner”) is to ensure that a grave looks beautiful and cared for at all times. Cemetery Gardeners work for families who are not able to maintain their loved ones’ grave for reasons of distance, time or physical ability (including a lack of green fingers!).

Cemetery Gardening is a profession which combines gardening, plant propagation and floristry.

The tradition

I draw inspiration trom the German tradition of cemetery gardening. The primary role of the Cemetery Gardener (“Friedhofsgärtner”) is to ensure that a grave looks beautiful and cared for at all times. Cemetery Gardeners work for families who are not able to maintain their loved ones’ grave for reasons of distance, time or physical ability (including a lack of green fingers!).

Cemetery Gardening is a profession which combines gardening, plant propagation and floristry.

Cemetery Gardening in Germany

Cemetery Gardening is a profession in Germany. It takes three years to qualify as a Cemetery Gardener. The apprentice Cemetery Gardener (“Lehrling”) will train for two years as a horticulturist (both amenity and production), followed by a third year specialising as a Cemetery Gardener. All three years combine learning on the job with formal study at a further-education college. The apprentice has to pass a number of theoretical and practical exams to qualify as a “Geselle” (journey man).

Many cemeteries in Germany are very beautiful and peaceful places, like parks full of small memorial gardens. They are a joy to walk around. Here is an example of a particularly beautiful cemetery in Germany. Sections are divided from one another by informal hedging full of wildlife. The graves are generously spaced and beautifully planted.

Grave planting and maintenance

Typically six months after a burial, the grave is levelled and planted up. Planting styles vary from region to region and grave to grave, but planting normally consists of a section of evergreen ground-cover plants, some colourful seasonal bedding, and maybe a small shrub to provide height and structure. Of course, planting is chosen to fit in with the local style and conventions.

Typical plants for spring planting include viola, primula, bellis, forget-me-not and, of course, spring bulbs. This may be followed by summer bedding using, for example, begonias, pelargoniums, petunias or fuchsias. Heather, cyclamen and Senecio (“dusty miller”) are popular for autumn planting. In warmer regions, autumn planting can be left over winter, but elsewhere, graves are covered up with conifer branches during the winter.

Many Cemetery Gardeners have a plant nursery near a particular cemetery. Here, plants are propagated and brought on for use by the Cemetery Gardener as well as by families looking after their own graves.

Following on from the initial planting, a Cemetery Gardener will maintain the grave through the seasons. This will include trimming, feeding, mulching, watering, deadheading, removing floral tributes that have passed their best, but also seasonal replanting, often with colourful plants.

grave planted with evergreens and colourful bedding

grave planted up with evergreens and seasonal bedding

One-off services and special occasions

In addition to planting up and maintaining graves, Cemetery Gardeners will also undertake one-off services to assist families. This could simply be keeping plants watered during holidays, but more typical is the provision of floral arrangements and other ornaments for high days and holidays, or the planting of containers to be placed on graves.

The training of Cemetery Gardeners includes floristry. The tying of wreaths and creation of long-lasting floral arrangements for Christmas is particularly important. Many cemetery gardening businesses include flower shops and will sell fresh flowers.

Christmas and Easter are important dates in a Cemetery Gardener’s diary. Other notable dates are the feast days of All Saints and All Souls at the beginning of November, and the Sunday of the Dead, the last Sunday before Advent.

Special lights are placed on graves for these remembrance days. Traditionally, they use candles which burn for around a week, but LED variants are now also used.