Cemetery Horticulture

Plant

Meaning, Reason, or Representation

Acacia

Representing rebirth and eternal life

Acanthus

The leaf that the top of the Corinthian columns. Herb suggesting a triumph, especially of the soul over life’s many sufferings and sorrows.

Anemone

This blood colored flower represents the transience of life.

Bamboo

This is an amulet for good luck, and the Chinese see that it has an explosive quality that it demonstrates when on fire, that to them shows hope that it will scare off evil spirits and demons.

Birch

The ancient Celts would cover their dead with birch branches…hoping to infuse them with the things they would need for a successful afterlife.

Box

The long used wood for making coffins.

Bristlecone Pine

One of the oldest living things on earth. In dry climates, as California, the wood will not rot for several centuries. The people of Mono and Inyo counties places twisted burls on their grave, as to show eternal life.

Cedar

Also suggests eternal life. Also the yew.

Cherry (Sakura)

Represents the Japanese idea of “The Perfect Death”. Also perfection of virtue and existence.

Chrysanthemum

In Europe this flower will represented harvest, but in Japan they see the sun, immortality, and the everlasting life of the Imperial Family.

Daisy

Daisies recall us to the sun, to figure the presence of God and the hope of resurrection.

Fig

Some African people see the fig as a way through which the dead can grant fertility to the living.

Holly

Some people used to believe that the holly bushes would protect tombstones from lightning strikes.

Ivy

In England, ivy shows up naturally to cover the tombs, but some Americans trans- planted ivy to their graveyards decided the it’d represent friendship and immortality.

Larch

Siberian people see this as the World Tree. Like many others, it also represents immortality.

Laurel

A symbol of worldly accomplishment and heroism, given by one’s peers.

Lily

The virgin’s flower and also the symbol of resurrection and purity.

Mandrake

The roots of this plant grow on the shape of a man. It is believed to spring from the life force of the interred. Some think you can hear a shriek when it is pulled from the ground.

Millet

Millet is offered as a food to some of the ancestors of the Chinese to sustain them in the afterlife.

Mistletoe

The Druidic believed that that it was a sacred plant and an ingredient in immortality because of it’s ability to sustain itself far above the ground.

Myrtle

Represents achievement and suggests eternal life.

Oak

Oak leaves on tombs can represent power, victory, or authority (especially military).

Pear

One is begged to consider life’s fragility and its eventual end when the wind scatters the white blossoms of this fruit tree.

Pine

This also represents immortality. The cone represents the perpetuity of life’s renewal.

Poplar

Instead of immortality (like many other trees) the poplar gives us memories and the sorrows that accompany them.

Poppy

Poppies bring about sleep. Sleep resembles death. Red poppies are an ancient flower of mortality, like the stop sign at the end of life.

Reeds

Evil spirits dislike the look of reeds and keep distance from them.

Rice

Rice states wealth and abundance.

Rose

Roses signify completion, the achievement of perfection.

Thistle

Scotsmen have this carved into their headstones, representing their national identity and their international dispersal of the weed.

Willow

Willows allow anyone a perpetual mourner.