The trouble is most older cemeteries that fit this description are closed, and most modern cemeteries are the perpetual care type, flat markers and sweeps of grass tended with mowing tractors. Does anyone know of any cemeteries that fit my requirements? I would imagine they might appeal ti many lovers of old roses. I for one would like to think that my final resing place might contribute to the preservation of an otherwise lost rose.

Rosefolly

I don't know of any places like we would both want anywhere near me----

I was quite young when I lost my father and immediately bought the 4 plots next to my parents ( I paid a little every week out of the "food money") it is called " the garden section"---not a garden in sight ---can't even have a pretty headstone----

everything has to be ground level for easy care-----

My daughter lives in Lancaster Pa,. Many of the old farms have their own family cemeteries---It looks so comforting to me to see many generations of families together in their final resting place.

Oh well-----Since we don't have a big farm and I already have four plots (My kids were very young when I bought these plots) I guess that's where I will be.

I'm happy to read your post and know there are others who feel the same way I do---Many of my friends are being cremated - the married ones want to mix their ashes together--
I don't feel comfortable with that plan------

Rosefolly---I hope folks don't think we are morbid but this is a fact ot life----

I've seen movies with really lovely cemeteries----

Let me know when you find one you like-----LOL I've read about Easton Pa cemetery----I've never seen it but it has lots of roses.

Florence-

Laura

Jeri

Liberty Cemetery, outside of Petaluma CA, has some roses - floribundas, etc- and the cemetery to me seems like a small, old-fashioned country cemetery.

There's also one outside of Bodega that has a one or more roses that look wild. It might be Bodega Calvary Cemetery...not sure.

I would check county maps for country cemeteries. (Can you tell I've done a tiny bit of rose rustling?)

I don't think you're being morbid at all.

I would like to work with the cemetery management to see if later we can add some roses and other traditional cemetery plants. There are areas that would easily lend themselves to roses, without taking away from the maintenance necessary to have a tidy cemetery.

It's a shame that newer cemeteries don't recognize the volume of business they have available from people like us who want upright markers and some character. I have told my husband that I will NOT spend my final rest in a field of plastic flowers ... some people have no choice, however.

Through the years, I have spent a lot of time in cemeteries. I do genealogical research, and a bit of rose rustling, and there's a certain satisfaction to standing at the grave of a long-sought relative in a lovely cemetery. I want my descendants to have this same feeling, if they choose to come see me.

Connie

The Sacramento cemetery has a lovely stone marked "Alice." It's in the plot with Blanche de Belgique, and tugs at my heart because my gardening grandma's name was Alice. She's buried in a Victorian-era cemetery in Hamilton, OH, with beautiful pink granite upright markers, but there are nothing but shrubs and trees throughout the cemetery. Not a flowering plant in sight. She'd have loved having roses at her grave.

Stockton Rural Cemetery is still actively burying people, and has quite a few roses there, so it may be a northern California option. The cemetery in Santa Rosa is planning to replant old roses, working with Gregg Lowery - he and Phillip had collected roses there years ago, mapping out where they got them, and now there is a chance to reinstate them. There's also a "green burial" option, such as offered in Mill Valley at Fernwood - no roses, but a more natural approach. I read a book called "Stiff" by Mary Roach - not for the weak of stomach! - and it described an initiative to compost bodies in Sweden. It has a certain gardener's appeal, doesn't it?

As for myself, I plan to have my ashes taken to Fletcher, OH, where I will join my folks and grandparents, in a little rural cemetery near a covered bridge. I'm with Connie - I want my remains in a spot, even if no relative ever visits it. I go to the cemetery every time I come back to Ohio, not to preview my future resting place, but to pay my respects to my mother and dad.

It may or may not be morbid to have these thoughts, but when you spend as much time in cemeteries as I have, it's unavoidable.
Anita

In the foreground of the one picture it shows the "garden type" sections that seem to be used now for easy care----

Most of my ancestors are in a similar old cemetery---However when my father bought his plot he needed it to be close to the lane (my father could not walk) He had to buy in the "garden" part so he could get the car near his plots so he could visit my mother and that is where my plots are----
they are both gone now and the markers all have to be ground level----

I love to read the lovely old headstones-----so sad yet so beautiful.

Florence

And yes, there are a few cemeteries in the Sacramento area with modern rose gardens. They have so little appeal to me that I didn't think of them, but at least there are flowers there.
Anita

Thanks for the information about various cemeteries. I know that a few still survive. There is a lovely cemetery in Monongahela, Pennsylvania that is still active. It was left over from the time before WWI when cemeteries were parks and places of beauty that people visited frequently. I guess after the slaughter of the 20th century wars people just didn't feel the same way about cemeteries anymore. Anyway I don't know if they allow permanent planting.

There is a pretty little church cemetery up in Foxburg, Pennsylvania, a town I once lived in and dearly loved. I have actually seen old roses growing there. They are not in the best of shape. I've thought of sneaking in a bit of fertilizer on a visit -- or even taking it on as a project when I go home each year to visit my father. He lives about thirty miles from there.

Rosefolly

But now I am back in Texas, and understand how gardeners feel about the modern cemeteries. Fortunately, we have a cemetery where my grandparents and great-grandparents are all buried. My parents have picked out their lot, and I know that one day I will be buried there, too. The cemetery has a lot of trees, but not a lot of flowering shrubs.

I told my husband that if/when he buries me, plant a rose bush on top. I hope he will.

Good luck in your search. I don't find it morbid at all. Death is just a part of life, too.

Some Londoners are facing quite a quandary these days as they search for final resting places . . . Perhaps some of you who long to repose among tilting tombstones and old roses might consider following the Brits' lead & search for a compatible gravemate.

I was pretty sure that Oak Hill Cemetery was the only one around here that would fit our needs. Just in case I missed something, I called a local monument company to ask ... figuring that they'd have the best and most comprehensive knowledge of where they set their stones. The woman I talked to there gave me a couple of more cemeteries to try, but neither of them met the needs of my husband's family.

Another option for some would be to join a church that has a cemetery ... probably not the BEST reason for joining a particular church, but I'll throw the idea out there. The very-old Presbyterian church at the corner from me provides cemetery space for members who have belonged for more than 2 years. I'm sure the rules are similar for churches who still have room in their cemetery. (Man, have I spent a lot of time in church cemeteries.)

Connie