Gardens of Remembrance

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month: even gardeners stop their weeding, pruning and bulb planting for two minutes to observe the silence.

Keeping the two minutes silence on Remembrance Sunday and Remembrance Day is about gratitude and respect for those who gave their lives to protect the rest of us since the First World War.

This is symbolised in Britain by the red poppy; the field poppy (Papaver rhoeas) that grows in the soil of Flanders. Many of us buy and wear a poppy for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.

However, it isn’t just the humble field poppy that has played a part in our remembrance. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) which was set up after the First World War, was also charged with creating gardens of remembrance as part of the memorial cemetries. These flowers, shrubs and lawns that surround the headstones and the graveyards were always integral to the plan. Sir Fabian Ware was the instigator who ensured that the details of those who had died were recorded, and that they should have an official resting place.

Gardens of Remembrance – beginnings

The original Imperial War Graves Commission found land for the war cemetries and memorials; and chose eminent architects to design them – Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Herbet Baker and Sir Reginald Blomfeld. Rudyard Kipling, who like so many had lost his son to the Great War, advised on the inscriptions.

Sir Frederic Kenyon, Director of the British Museum, was given the task of finding a cohesive approach. He summed up the collective vision for the Commission cemeteries thus:

“The general appearance of a British cemetery will be that of an enclosure with plots of grass or flowers (or both) separated by paths of varying size, and set with orderly rows of headstones, uniform in height and width.”

Now whilst you may have worked out that the Imperial War Graves Commission changed it’s title when the British Empire became the British Commonwealth, I’m sure that many of you will be surprised to learn that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (see link below) is one of the world’s leading horticultural organisations.

Gardens of Remembrance – design and maintenance

To keep the cemeteries with their gardens of remembrance looking good seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year in all weathers is not an easy task. Not only does the planting need to offer something in all seasons, but the number of visitors in all weathers puts particular stress on the turf paths laid between the headstones.

The borders which lie next to the headstones are generally planted with a mix of roses and herbaceous perennials. Of these latter some will die back over winter and regrow in the spring; others will retain their foliage year round; the Heuchera in the photograph is an evergreen herbaceous perennial except in the hardest of weather. The CWGC takes great care in choosing appropriate plants for each cemetery, for example, there are Maples from Canada at Dieppe, where many Canadian soldiers have their graves.

Designing the planting for the gardens of remembrance that form an integral part of the War Cemeteries requires much thought. Considerations include the length of flowering season, of foliage interest, so that visitors have something to see whatever the time of year. The planting also needs to be reasonably low maintenance, both for the border planting and for the turf, or grass. Not merely from a time and therefore economic perspective, but also because it would interrupt the mood for those paying their respects to have a gardener trundling around with a noisy lawnmower for a couple of hours.

Gardens of Remembrance – garden tools and innovation

These particular pressures have encouraged the War Grave horticulturalists to be innovative both in planting designs and in the equipment they use to maintain them. For example, petrol lawn mowers were introduced in the 1920s; and many of the mechanical tools developed for the CWGC have since become standard domestic gardening tools and equipment.

More recently, climate change has brought its own new requirements and demands. A proactive approach has been taken in gardens of remembrance across the world; for example, drought tolerant planting, including turf has been both introduced and trialled by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

So next time you buy a poppy for Remembrance Day, important though it is as a symbol, remember it’s not the only flower that grows in Flanders fields.