Creating Memorial Gardens For Veterans

Honoring Our Loved Ones

Memorial Day, formerly known as Decoration Day, began after the American Civil War to commemorate Union and Confederate Soldiers who died in the Civil War. By the 20^th century, Memorial Day now honors all Americans who have died during military service. Memorial Gardens with roses, peonies, trees shrubs and companion plantings can evoke powerful memories.

“Memorial Day’ Rose

• Cultivar: WEKblunez
• Patent #:16,572
• Class: Hybrid Tea
• Flower Color: Clear pink with a lavender wash
• Strong, damask fragrance.
• Height of 43″ to 4¼’ (110 to 130 cm).  Medium, spreading, upright. Large, matte, medium green, dense foliage.
• Bud Form: Pointed & ovoid
• Flower Form: Very full, spiraled
• Flower Size: Very large, up to 5″ diameter. Blooms in flushes throughout the season. Average diameter 5″. Large, very full (41+ petals), borne mostly solitary, old-fashioned bloom form.
• Petal Count: Over 50
• Stem Length: Long
• Plant Habit: Medium-tall height
• Growth Habit: Upright, bushy
• Foliage Color: Rich green
• Disease Resistance: Very good
• Hybridizer: Tom Carruth—2004
• Parentage: Blueberry Hill x New Zealand

Listen To The Interview

Flowers are very common at funerals, masses and in arrangements to honor the recently deceased. They say when you plant a flower, you create a memory. What if you created a memorial in your garden in honor of a loved one instead of buying a floral arrangement? It is a very common practice and also a beautiful way to keep someone’s memory alive.  What varieties work best? How do you maintain the rose bed? What do you do if the roses become diseased or die because of inclement weather? Tune in to find out! In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer talks to award winning Rosarian, Susan Fox, founder of Gaga’s Garden about what you need to know to honor your loved ones using roses. To listen to the interview, please click the video below.

Every Memorial Day mother would cut and take peonies for Daddy’s and his brother Daniel’s grave, both WWII veterans then lovingly tend to the head stones at Mt. Olivet Memorial Park, we would also pick-up or see my sister-in-law there at my brother Larry’s grave with flowers. It was important that we do this as a family.

Peony Arrangement at P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain Farm

About Susan Fox:

Susan Fox is a consulting rosarian, award winning photographer and event planner that speaks, grows, and shows roses and gardens. Founder of Gaga’s Garden®, and author of Four Seasons of Roses 2014 Monthly Guide to Rose Care, Ms. Fox was recently awarded the American Rose Society’s (ARS) Presidential Citation “for Promoting the Rose and Rose Education Via Social Media.” She just returned from telling the #ARStory for Arkansas State Tourism to promote the State-of- Arkansas, and attending P. Allen Smith’s Garden-To-Blog invitation only exclusive event for garden writers in Little Rock, Arkansas. Fox’s most recent accomplishment is a year-long effort facilitating collaborations between growers and others that were key in making this year’s Chicago Flower & Garden show’s rose gardens a reality. The rose gardens at The Chicago Flower & Garden Show are the first in over a decade. She currently represents Hometalk, the world’s largest home and garden social network on National television with recent segments on NBC “Show Me St. Louis,” and the highly rated “WGN Morning Show” in Chicago. As co-host on June Stoyer’s live production, The Organic View Radio Show called The Rosarian’s View, at her heart is a commitment to generating educational, entertaining content that profiles specific products, personalities, places and events that engage the larger audience through targeted social media campaigns. This and other acknowledgments such as judging the The Biltmore International Rose Trials in Ashville, NC has placed Ms. Fox at #2 in the world for the category of roses by Klout, the authority on social media rating system. Her reputation in the gardening community has firmly established Susan as one of the most highly regarded rosarians and gardeners in the industry with a special talent for promoting garden related products, people or events via social media and content marketing. The Website at www.gagasgarden.com features a sample of Gaga’s Garden® content and story telling graphics that keep readers coming back for more!