Latest Posts:
Tag

Memorial

Browsing
In Home Improvement

Celebrate Your Loved Ones With a Memorial Garden at Home

No Comments



Bringing reminders of loved ones into our living spaces is part of what makes our homes special. You can do the same in your garden by adding plants and features that symbolize those you have loved, honoring their lives and focusing on what they meant to you. While every memorial garden is unique and deeply personal, the ideas below offer inspiration to help you begin creating a heartfelt space in your own landscape.

As you plan your memorial garden, it’s important to think about the person your loved one was — “their quirks, their favorite things, their hobbies, their funny and inside jokes, their favorite words or sayings, their pets,” says Kristin Taunton, who worked with a design team on a memorial garden seen below. These personal touches can help shape a space that not only honors the person’s memory but also brings comfort and a lasting sense of connection.



This article was originally published by a www.houzz.com . Read the Original article here. .

Read More
By
In Home Improvement

Yard of the Week: Memorial Garden Celebrates Life and Community

No Comments



This garden in Excelsior, Minnesota, grows in memory of Beau Taunton, who tragically passed away at 22 years old from a fentanyl overdose. His mother, Kristin, wanted an area at her home where she could honor Beau, raise awareness and welcome friends, family and neighbors to gather and celebrate his life. Working with Mom’s Design Build, she transformed her front lawn into a peaceful, uplifting space for joy, love and reflection.

Mom’s Design BuildSave Photo
Photos by Spacecrafting

Yard at a Glance
Who lives here: Kristin Taunton, a mother
Location: Excelsior, Minnesota
Size: 2,400 square feet (223 square meters)
Landscape designer and contractor: Mom’s Design Build (lead designer: Heather Sweeney)

Kristin envisioned her front yard in this tight-knit neighborhood as a communal space, where loved ones could be together, remember Beau and celebrate who he was. She didn’t want to conceal what had happened or focus too heavily on loss. Instead, she chose to honor his life through this garden.

The team asked Kristin to share with them what Beau had loved, what his interests and hobbies had been, so they could capture and best express his spirit in their design. “I wanted more than a pretty garden for my son. I wanted a garden that told his story and was bold like him,” Kristin says. Special touches such as a custom sculpture and a QR code linked to his obituary allow people walking by to connect with the memory of Beau.

Find a design-build firm near you

Before: The front yard was mostly lawn, with a brick walkway and a small set of stairs leading from the sidewalk to the front door.

It was important to Kristin to preserve the existing trees, particularly the maple, whose canopy we can see on the left side of this photo. Beau liked to climb and spend time in this tree, and his mom would often keep him company on the ground below.

Mom’s Design BuildSave Photo
After: In the redesigned yard, Bobo panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata ‘ILVOBO’, USDA zones 3 to 8; find your zone) greet visitors from the sidewalk and project above a new stacked-bluestone wall like radiant white candles. “They are the highlight of the garden,” designer Heather Sweeney says. These spring-to-fall-blooming shrubs set a joyful tone for the space and will eventually reach 3 feet tall, enhancing privacy without obscuring the yard and its main features.

How to Design Your Garden for More Meaning and Connection

Mom’s Design BuildSave Photo
On the other side of the hydrangeas, and throughout the yard, more flowering plants add color, life and brightness across seasons. Some plantings, including ‘Summer Beauty’ allium (Allium ‘Summer Beauty’, zones 4 to 9), attract bees and other pollinators.

Little Trudy catmint (Nepeta ‘Psfike’, zones 4 to 9) was planted for Beau’s cat, Keegan, who lives with Kristin now. The designers stuck to a blue, white and pop-of-pink color palette, choosing beautiful plants that would encourage Kristin to spend time outside.

Some of the other species featured include: Dakota burgundy beardtongue (Penstemon ‘TNPENDB’, zones 3 to 8), Royal Candles spiked speedwell (Veronica spicata ‘Glory’, zones 3 to 8), ‘Pink Cotton Candy’ betony (Stachys officinalis ‘Pink Cotton Candy’, zones 4 to 8), ‘PowWow White’ purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ‘PowWow White’, zones 3 to 8), blazing star (Liatris sp.) and boxwood (Buxus sp.).

Mom’s Design BuildSave Photo
A memorial sculpture made of Cor-Ten steel anchors one side of the yard. The piece spells out Beau’s name and stands at roughly the height he was. Beau was very artistic and a fan of graffiti art, Sweeney says, and the sculpture’s material and style nod to the rustic, industrial spaces where you might see that kind of work.

A recirculating fountain carved from a basalt boulder gently bubbles in front of the Beau statue. It’s autofilled through a drip irrigation system the team installed in the yard. Bluestone pavers and Mexican beach pebbles surround the water feature.

Next to the fountain sits another, slightly smaller, carved stone. Water collects in the basin when it rains, creating a birdbath for the garden’s winged visitors.

10 Ways to Cope With Grief During the Holidays

Mom’s Design BuildSave Photo
Beau also liked to skateboard, and the team propped a Cor-Ten steel board next to the water feature, which Kristin can move around the yard as she likes. Beau’s friends will often sit on the stone beside the fountain and skateboard around to take in the space.

Sweeney says that since these photos were taken, friends and family have left objects and mementos around the sculptures and water features. “Beau’s friends use [the space] all the time, and at night when it is lit, you can see his name,” she says. If Kristin moves, she’ll be able to bring the sculptures with her.

Mom’s Design BuildSave Photo
Rumbled coco clay brick frames a grassy path that connects the sculptures and water feature to this fire pit lounge. The subtle detail allows other design elements in the yard to shine and also complies with the site’s hard paving restrictions.

Regrading the front yard created the flat, usable outdoor space this seating area occupies. (The team was careful not to disturb the maple tree during construction.) The patio is Greydon sandstone. Four Adirondack chairs surround a concrete gas fire pit, which can be easily turned on and off from a switch inside the house.

Shop for patio furniture on Houzz

Mom’s Design BuildSave Photo

Winters in Minnesota are extremely cold, so Kristin turns off and drains the fountain and covers the fire pit and furniture for the season. When spring rolls around, the front yard will be ready to be enjoyed again.

Mom’s Design BuildSave Photo
For those inspired to create a memorial garden of their own, Kristin offers this advice: “Spend time with [your] landscape design company and convey to them as much as possible about what kind of person [your] loved one was. Tell them their quirks, their favorite things, their hobbies, their funny and inside jokes, their favorite words or sayings, their pets — and share pictures with them. Don’t hold back, so your design team can see the whole picture.”

More on Houzz
Read more landscape design stories
Browse landscape photos
Find a landscape designer
Shop for outdoor products



This article was originally published by a www.houzz.com . Read the Original article here. .

Read More
By
Pin It