HONORING OUR ANCESTORS FOR MEMORIAL DAY

Saturday we spent visiting the grave sites of our loved ones in various cemeteries in Northern Utah--Logan, Smithfield, Brigham City, and North Ogden.  I was impressed with how beautiful the  grounds looked--my favorite being the one in Brigham City, because of the beautiful 'fence line' of lilacs that frame the cemetery grounds.  I'm always looking for nice arrangements, both hand-made and florists, and I did see many.  But more and more, people are buying potted mums to place on the graves. There was a beautiful assortment of these potted beauties, as you can see by the collages I've made.  One nice thing about using mums is that you can then plant them in your beds for plants that come back the next year.  We have a friend whose yard is filled with beautiful plants from years of grave decorating. The neat thing about mums is that they can be planted most any time of the year, too.  My mother does a cost-effective thing--she recycles each year by using the same bouquets of silk flowers, tagged with the names of each of the graves she needs to put them on. This also requires going back to the cemetery, to gather up the arrangements before they are discarded by the cemetery workers, just as it is with the potted mums.   Usually this time of year, the lilacs are gone, and iris and other perennials are out.  (There have even been years that I have used the 1st blooms of roses).  This year, however, the lilacs are in full bloom, looking beautiful, but the iris are just barely starting, most needing a week or more to bloom, and the roses are at least 2-3 weeks, some more, for them to come into bloom.   I like seeing the cemeteries in 'full bloom'--and it's nice to have this special day to honor those that have gone on before us.