Life in the Garden

Matters of Life and Death

memorial garden

Billion Dollar Baby: Elizabeth Taylor RIP

Elizabeth Taylor

When Elizabeth Taylor died, she left a fortune estimated at 1 billion, much of it from her perfume empire. Her jewels alone are worth $150 million. Each of her four children stand to inherit $100 million.

Elizabeth taylor jewelry

Elizabeth’s wish was to be buried near her beloved Richard Burton in Switzerland, but Burton’s widow has already purchased the grave site next to him. Liz decided to keep it simple and be buried near her forever young friend, Michael Jackson in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Staying true to her life long reputation of chronic tardiness, she arranged to be 15 minutes late to her own funeral.

lily of the valley funeral flower

According to Jewish custom, Ms. Taylor was buried within 48 hours of her death on March 23, 2011. Her casket was draped with gardenias, violets, and lilies of the valley.

Source: Vanity Fair

Packers Pride: Taking It To The Grave

packer fans

Because of the Super Bowl win, Packer fans can take their team pride to the grave. Wisconson cemetery, Fort Howard Memorial Park, fans can purchase one of 31 cremation niches dedicated to Packers football. Prices range $3,200 to $5,000 a piece. However, since the Packers scored 31 points in the Super Bowl, they’re offering 31% off this month!
Read more about Packers fan memorial park.

Beautiful Urn Arrived Today

Always nice to hear a kind word from our customers.  Paul’s wife passed away in December and wanted a double urn for her and a final resting place for him.  He preferred an urn with a hummingbird carved into the wood.  This wasn’t the first cremation urn he had purchased.  He bought a cheap wood urn and was disappointed in the quality and decided he wanted an American made memorial urn with a carved hummingbird. And then?  He entered the Urn Garden.

Hi Lenette,

The beautiful urn came this morning.  It is exactly as planned. Such beautiful work.  Please commend the artist. Thanks again for being such a help.

Paul C,  Garden Ridge, TX

wood urn for two people

Our master craftsmen were able to create a custom solid walnut wood urn similar to the one pictured above only with 3-D inlay. It’s hard to capture the beauty and warmth of the wood urns in pictures, but Paul was pleased and also ordered a memorial garden stone engraved with a poem and their names.  He plans to place in his patio courtyard near the fountain.

wood urns for ashes

Memorial Idea – August Birth Flower, Gladiolus

For our loved ones that were born in the month of August, a good starting place for planning a memorial theme is the August birth flower, the gladiolus.

august birth flower

Striking beauty, from the Latin word “gladius,” meaning sword. Glads symbolize strength and moral integrity.

If you don’t know the loved one’s favorite color, you could draw on the colors the Peridot gemstone.  Peridot is the August birthstone and is mainly green, with golden yellows and brown inclusions. The color of summer.

peridot august gem

Ancient Egyptians called peridot “The Gem of the Sun” because it was supposedly too bright to be visible in the sunny Egyptian desert. Legend also suggests that peridot can glow at night and it’s now believed that Cleopatra´s emeralds were really fine, dark green peridots.

colorful urns for ashes

Drawing on the color of peridot and the color of summer, Urngarden.com has green and gold urns at a tremendous savings for families.

Check out this unusual idea for a simple, elegant floating glad floral arrangement.

floating gladiolius