I'm new here. I am looking for some ideas for flowers that will stand up to conditions in a cemetery. I generally have used geraniums, but wonder what else would work. One location is mostly sun and no breaks from the wind. Thank you in advance for you help.

Welcome Ericka! Are you looking for cut flowers or in-ground flowers?

They will be in a container. I typically get there once a week to water.

Marigolds, perhaps? They look nice mixed with some blue lobelia.

Welcome Ericka.
I prefer fragrance flower. Plumeria are common cemetary tree here. They looks beautifull and have a sweet fragrance.

I plant cananga odorata tree and polianthes tuberosa on my mom cemetary. Both have nice fragrance when flower.

If you want them to be in container and only get watered once a week, and you said the place is mostly sun, so it should be the dry tolerant plants that can fit. White rose and lavender could be nice. But i am not sure if they can deal with once a week watering. Are rain come down often there ?

Maybe purslane will be fit. Sun loving and dry tolerant and come in many colors. Although they lack the fragrance.

Welcome to NGA Ericka. Are you looking for plants that will be year round, or just Spring through Fall?

Zinnias are heat and drought tolerant and so is upright lantana. This link has a number of drought tolerant/drought resistant
plants.

http://www.enjoycontainergarde...

There are containers that would help with the watering.

http://www.gardeners.com/buy/o...

Here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, many people grow annual Vinca in cemetery plots. Vinca is an easy-to-grow annual for beds, borders, edging and containers. Vinca prefers full sun, tolerates heat and drought and can be relied on to flower in the hottest weather throughout the entire summer.

Wow! Thank you all so much for your replies. I will check out all of these. Here in Wisconsin you never know what the summer will be like for rain. Some summers we've hardly had any, although I don't think that's the norm. Someone else did mention Purslane to me, but from the pictures I've seen of it it looks rather flat. Is there something taller I could plant in with it?

Vinca sounds good. Would Dianthus work as well? It's a pretty tough plant and most always looks good.

In addition to gardening one of my other pastimes is visiting cemeteries for the Find A Grave website. I have learned that each cemetery has it's own rules/preferences/prohibitions, etc. regarding what can and cannot be placed on graves. Please check with the cemetery office before you purchase your plants and containers to be sure they will be permitted.

Here is an example of how exacting some of the rules can be:
http://dva.state.wi.us/Pages/m...

Hello Ericka, you may have to change the plants depending on the seasons, different seasons, different flowering times. I have tried these plants, they do well in containers, but I usually get my blooms around Spring. Once our heat returns, they just stop the blooms, but the plant itself is very drought tolerant, so I have no problems sustaining them in high heat periods.

Oscularia caulescens


Calandrinia spectablils -Rock puslane - this one really loves the sun a lot, and very drought tolerant as well. My winters are mild, so it can stay outdoors in my area all year round.
Just showing you how it grew from cuttings I got from another container:



Lantanas are also good. Easy maintenance.

Crassula ovata - though not always flowering, but it is quite drought tolerant. It may also make blooms, but it does go on lovely foliagee color change when it gets cold/heat stress. But you have to bring it home during winter.