Powerful, meaningful, and impactful. Are you Interested in remembering your loved ones with a memorial tree?
Purchasing a memorial tree for our loved ones is a great idea. This article will be discussing the complete guide to honoring your loved ones with a memorial tree.
What Is a Memorial Tree?
A memorial tree is a tree purchased specifically for the purpose of remembrance of our loved ones.
You can plant it in your backyard, the national forest, or even internationally.
It is a lasting living tribute and a wonderful outdoor memorial that has a positive future impact like helping forestation efforts in an area.
Families who opted to cremate their loved ones, if they choose to memorialize their loved ones with a memorial tree, also often would spread the ashes of their loved ones around the planted trees.
The ashes will help the tree grow, and it symbolically represents that the tree, is our loved one’s legacy that continues to lives on even after their passings.
In summary, memorial trees are a meaningful tribute to the deceased that enables someone’s memory to live on in the form of a beautiful living tree.
Why Do People Purchase Memorial Trees?
When our loved ones die, sometimes we would want to honor their life and their legacy by establishing a meaningful memorial.
Memorial’s primary function is to remember our loved ones meaningfully. Some people would want to honor their loved ones with trees as memorials because it suits the character and personality of their loved ones. Similar use case with memorial flowers!
A vibrant, open, and nature-loving person, for example. Full of energy with memorable personalities and impact that live through time. Memorializing their life with a tree is fitting because trees also live for long periods of time.
Another reason could be that the deceased may personally request the family specifically to have trees planted as a remembrance of their life for the purpose of forestation effort.
You have the option to purchase memorial trees for the family of the deceased or also as a donation.
This could lead to hundreds of groves or trees planted in a certain area in need of help.
Certainly, an impactful way to remember loved ones. Leaving the world with a positive impact on the earth through forestation.
How Do You Purchase a Memorial Tree?
First, you have to decide whether or not you would want to plant the tree by yourself, or through an organization.
Planting trees by yourself, would require planning and also taking care of it by yourself as well.
Planting trees through an organization will have less planning and maintenance effort, but with slightly limited freedom on the tree’s selection and location.
We’ll be discussing the pros and cons of planting a memorial tree on your own vs purchasing through an organization later on in this article, meanwhile, let’s continue to discuss the steps on each of them.
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How to Purchase and Plant a Memorial Tree on Your Own
- Figure Out Where You Can Plant a Memorial Tree
Have you decided yet where you would want to plant the memorial tree for your loved ones?
If it’s on your own personal property, there’s not much regulation/permission that needs to be addressed compared to if it is in a public space.
One of the considerations you should think about if planting on your own home is perhaps if you are to sell the property in the future, there’s a possibility that the new owner might not allow you to pay a visit to the tree anymore. Keep that in mind!
If you are looking to plant a memorial tree in a public space such as a park, you might want to research federal, local programs, park and city regulations.
Many areas have established programs to help people plant trees in memory of a loved one. For example, The City of St. Louis’ Forestry Division allows family and friends to plant a tree in memory of a loved one.
Some locations may not offer you much freedom in choosing the types of trees that you wanted. It is usually because of the environmental fit, which the regulator might not see certain types of trees to be suitable to be planted in the space.
Make sure that you have permission to plant the trees that you wanted by reaching out to the local government!
- Estimating Future Tree Growth
If you have managed to find a place and permission to plant a memorial tree of your choice, one thing you have to ensure is the tree’s future growth should not disturb the environment or other plants surrounding it.
Try to research and think about how large the tree will grow. You wouldn’t want to constantly have to maintain its growth and size later on in the future.
Make a list of the trees that can fit well in the space you targeted, and that is a great choice as a memorial for your loved ones.
- Pick the Best Memorial Tree for Your Loved One
When you are done figuring out the location in which you want to plant your memorial tree, now is the time to choose the type of tree to be planted!
We have a list of the best memorial trees for you down below in this article, but one thing you also need to take into consideration is to check your area’s plant hardiness zone.
Not all plants can be grown in all areas. You will need to make sure that you select a tree that can survive in its hardiness zone.
Visit the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map to know about a zone’s suitability to a certain plant. Once you figure out the hardiness zone, you can pick your tree accordingly.
- Plant the Tree
Planting the tree on your personal property is quite straightforward. You’re good to go when all is well prepared.
If you’re planting in a public space, once you have secured all the necessary permission, and have done your research for the tree’s future growth, you’re all good to plant!
If you are thinking of doing a memorial service together with the planting procedure, you can invite families and friends to the location as well.
It will be a remembrance ceremony of your loved ones at the planting of their memorial tree.
How to Purchase and Plant a Memorial Tree Through an Organization
- Research the organization’s credibility
Planting a tree through an organization is simpler to do than planting on your own, Organizations will have already secured the location for the planting and know the type of trees fitting for that particular space.
You won’t be needed to do as much research as doing it on your own.
However, because they are the ones that are doing it for you, it is super important for you to research their work’s credibility.
Keep these questions in mind.
Do they really plant trees? Do they keep records of where the trees are planted?
A trustworthy memorial tree service should take photos of the actual trees planted and subsequently provide coordinates for where you can find and visit the trees after the planting!
How about maintenance? Will my memorial tree be maintained well so that it’s growing healthy?
Make sure this question is answered well before choosing the organization to work together with.
- Research the organization’s planting locations
Different organizations may have different planting locations. You might want to know where your loved one’s tree will be planted and decide whether or not the location is preferable for you and your family.
- Choose the tree type that you want to plant
Most of the time, the organizations will already have their tree selections that you can choose from.
You might not be able to request to plant any tree that you want, because tree type is dependent on the planting locations, and the organizations helping you might have a location that’s not conditioned well for your desired tree of choice to survive well in the area.
Nevertheless, their choices are usually quite varied, so you might find your most fitting memorial tree for your loved ones on their list!
- Place an order
Once you are confident with the organization that will be planting trees to honor your loved ones, you are good to go. Proceed to place your order.
- Receive the certificate, photos, and locations of the tree.
After they are finished with the planting, they will usually send you a certificate, and details about the planting location so that you can pay a visit to your loved one’s memorial tree.
Memorial Trees on Your Own vs With an Organization
| Planting Memorial Trees on Your Own | Planting Memorial Trees With an Organization |
|---|---|
| The Benefits | The Benefits |
| Full ownership of the planting process. You get to choose precisely what and where your loved one’s memorial tree will be. | Time saver, and practical! Easy to execute and well organized with procedures in place. You will not need to deal with regulators and pursue permissions because the organizations will already secure them. You may be able to plant where you might not individually be given the permission to (such as at national forests). |
| The Cons | The Cons |
| If not on your own personal property, the effort it takes to research and securing permission to plant can be time-consuming. | Locations might not be precisely where you’re interested. It’s dependent on the organization’s planting location. Slightly less ownership of the planting process. For example, tree selection will be limited due to the dependability of the organization’s planting location. |
What Is a Good Tree for a Memorial?
Here are 12 choices of good trees for memorials to look for:
- Blue Spruce: Flexible, known for its durability. Highly adaptable. Blue-green color
- Magnolia Tree: A nice small tree in five years. Large flowers. Low maintenance.
- Oak Tree: Longevity, strength, stability, endurance, fertility, power, justice, and honesty
- Texas Mountain Laurel: Valued for its handsome, dark green foliage and lush early spring blooms.
- Dogwood Tree: Majestic ornamental, low maintenance, self-pollinate
- Silver Birch: Medium-sized. Pretty, a symbol of purity. Renewal and purification
- American Redbud: Spectacular floral display. Generally, pest-free. The state tree of Oklahoma
- Rowan Tree: Strong and resilient wood. Tree of protection.
- Hazel Tree: 9-13 feet in height in 10 years. Good tree to grow on its own in the garden.
- Wild Cherry: In Highland folklore, wild cherry had mysterious qualities. Strong woods.
- Japanese Red Maple: Versatile, ornamental, hardy small tree. Important to keep soil moisture.
- Purple Plum Tree: Produce beautiful pink and white blossoms in early spring.
- Golden Raindrops Crabapple: Overflowing with clusters of small white flowers mid-spring
How Much Cost is Planting a Memorial Tree?
Prices may vary depending on location. For planting a memorial tree on your own, expect a price range of $60-$170.
Memorial tree seedlings sold at Seeds of Life cost around $50-$100.
The City of St. Louis’ forestry division’s remembrance tree program mentioned earlier in this guide costs $150.
Planting through an organization may cost less.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Plant-A-Tree program costs a donation of $10, to plant ten conifer seedlings in a National Forest.
Planting through organizations usually will give you the option to plant in a large group of groves or seedlings, which could also amount to hundreds of dollars.
Where to Order a Memorial Tree?
(We do not receive ANY affiliate commission from the stores below. It’s our recommendation based on quick research through Google.)
Great shop for those who would want to plant a memorial tree on their own. A lot of selection, professionally packaged with great support, and affordable price!
Credible organization to help you plan memorial trees at the National Forest.
Their mission is to provide thoughtful, meaningful gifts that live on to restore fire devastated National Forests.
They personally take photos of the trees and post them on the website. The current Planting Location is at Angeles National Forest, California.
Memory Forest is a program by The Living Urn where they established exclusive partnerships with leading cemeteries and memorial gardens throughout the U.S. to offer memorial tree planting service to people who are looking for a location to have a special tree memorial for a loved one.
End of Article
Thank you for reading the article. If you recently experienced the loss of your loved ones, we are sorry for that.
Memorial trees are an impactful, lasting, and living tribute to commemorate your loved ones.
Because it’s a living being that continues to grow, you could associate the tree’s growth with your loved one’s legacy, forever impactful even after they’re no longer with us.
We hope this article helped you to know more about Memorial Trees. With what tree are you thinking to honor your loved ones? Share your thoughts with all of us in the comments below!
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