The loss of a loved one is never easy. However, if someone special in your life, or a friend or family member is affected by a bereavement a fitting way to remember the deceased is to give a thoughtful bereavement gift, such as a plant, tree or shrub.
Why a Bereavement Gift?
Never underestimate the impact and value that your words and your time mean to anyone going through the pain of bereavement. It’s not unusual for people dealing with death to discover that people aren’t comfortable talking or listening to people who are suffering.
Second to this, and only when you think the time is right, it’s a nice idea to mark a person’s life with a fitting tribute. People often donate money to charity or give flowers as bereavement gifts, but a tree or a plant is another idea that, unlike cut flowers, will continue to thrive and grow and gives those going through the grieving process something to focus on and to care.
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Which Trees and Plants Make the Best Bereavement Gifts?
Each person has unique tastes, so you need to keep these in mind when selecting the right bereavement gift. It can help if you think about what the recipient or the deceased enjoyed regarding hobbies, passions, and interests. If, for example, they were a keen foodie, trees that fruit such as feijoa or olive are ideal.
If, on the other hand, they admired flowers or enjoyed scents flowering plants such as jasmine or gardenia are fitting. Here are a few suggestions:
Anthurium
Anthurium is a beautiful indoor plant that will grow outdoors too, depending on the climate (it needs warm weather). It has gorgeous red or plum coloured flowers that will provide a fitting reminder of that special person when in bloom and its green, glossy leaves are attractive all year round.
Gardenia
Gardenia’s delicate yet waxy white and cream flowers appear in Spring through to summer and are a unique way to bring a loved one to mind. Gardenia flowers can be picked and presented in a vase or used in a floating water feature. Fragrant Star is as its name suggests, is beautifully scented.
Lemon Tree
A lemon tree is a novel way to remember the deceased. Hardy enough to grow in a sunny garden, or in a pot that can be brought indoors when it’s chilly, a lemon tree looks attractive as well as providing useful fruit. What a great way to remember that person who loved a slice of lemon in their 5 o’clock tipple?
Metrosideros
Metrosideros or ‘red baby’ is a distant relative of the New Zealand Christmas Tree (Pohutukawa). The striking red flowers bloom in the spring, and during the rest of the year, the leaves are glistening, shiny and eye-catching. Metrosideros is an easy to grow ornamental shrub that will tolerate frost and growing in a pot as well as soil.
Laurus
Laurus is a fitting way to remember a former foodie in your life. The leaves of the aromatic sweet bay add flavour to casseroles and stews as well as looking attractive. For a personal touch, a bay is a great shrub to shape with topiary – you can buy a frame and make animals such as cats, swans and dogs or cones and cubes. Bay is hardy and therefore, frost tolerant.
Feijoa Trees
Feijoa Trees are the ultimate easy-care fruit trees that are a versatile addition to pies, cakes, crumbles, and tangy chutneys. In a sunny space in either the soil or a pot, feijoas deliver tasty fruit and pretty, crimson flowers – what a great way to remember a home cook or fan of preserves than with a Feijoa tree.
How to Present Your Gift
All of GivePlants are living gifts that are delivered in a box and sent to your chosen destination with a personalised message. Of course, in remembrance of a person, you might like to provide the plant in person and mark the occasion by holding a planting ceremony.
A planting ceremony is something that all ages can become involved with and is particularly helpful if any young children wouldn’t attend a funeral or wake.
Dig a hole in the soil or prepare a pot and then have someone say a few words about the person you are remembering. No doubt that over the coming years, the plant or tree will become a focal point and help to bring to mind the many happy and positive memories that you have.
How Plants as a Gift can Help the Bereaved
A gift that is living gives so much back to the recipient. At times of great pain, it can be mentally calming to look at a natural and beautiful growing specimen. The very fact that the recipient will need to look after the plant is also helpful as it gives them both a sense of purpose and helps to take their mind off of their pain.
Author’s Bio
My name is Theresa Le Roux, I am originally from Montreal, Canada but I have spent the last 5 years in beautiful New Zealand. I write SEO/Digital marketing/SMM articles for businesses that want a different perspective on subjects that are important to their content output. This can also help grow rankings in the process so it’s a win-win! I regularly contribute articles about the always changing world of SEO to Clickthrough.co.nz.
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