Ideas for Memorial Garden Flowers for Your Baby

If you're searching for a way to memorialize your baby after a miscarriage or stillbirth, planting a memorial garden can be a beautiful option. Creating the garden can be a way to work through your loss. When your garden blooms again in upcoming years, you may find comfort and hope in it.

Choosing Flowers for Your Memorial Garden

When it comes to selecting the flowers for your garden, there are several factors to consider. For example, you might consider the types of flowers that grow best in your region and the size of your memorial garden. Certain flowers seem to lend themselves to memorial gardens, such as bleeding heart, forget-me-not, and baby’s breath.

The Meanings of Flowers

Several cultures have assigned specific meanings to flowers, notably in Japanese tradition and in English Victorian tradition. These flowers with cultural meanings might be particularly appropriate for a child’s memorial garden. This list is by no means exhaustive but it can serve as a starting place to get you thinking about what flowers you'd like to include.

Type of Flower or Plant	Common Meaning or Significance
Acacia	Eternal Love
Aloe	Grief
Alyssum	Grace
Amaranth	Immortality, everlasting
Anemone	Resurrection
Aster	God's grace, love, blessings
Baby's Breath	Sweet, gentle, innocent
Balm	Sympathy
Bellflower	"Thinking of you”
Black-Eyed Susan	Encouragement
Camellia	Perfected Loveliness
Columbine	Gentleness
Crocus	Hope
Cypress	Mourning, sorrow
Daffodil	Resurrection
Daisy	Innocence
Delphinium	Devotion, blessings
Ferns	Peace, acceptance, grace, serenity, gentility, quietude
Forget-Me-Nots	Memories
Fuchsia	Harmony, healing for those who grieve, angels
Geranium	Comfort
Gladioli	Sincerity
Heather	Solitude
Heliotrope	Devotion
Honeysuckle	Devoted affection, bonds of love
Impatiens	Patience, steadfastness, loving-kindness
Iris	Inspiration
Ivy	Fidelity, endurance
Jasmine	Peace, goodwill, and healing
Larkspur	Beautiful spirit
Lavender	Devotion
Lily	Faith, grace, and spiritual healing
Lily of the Valley	Sweetness
Lisianthus	Calming
Marigold	Pain and grief
Nasturtium	Protection
Olive	Peace
Pansies	Gentle thoughts
Peonies	Thoughts of the past, memories
Petunia	Peace, harmony, serenity, uplifting of the body and soul
Pink Rose	Grace
Poppies	Eternal sleep, consolation
Queen Anne’s Lace	Femininity
Red & White Rose	Unity
Tulips	Faith, hope, and charity
Verbena	Peace
Violets	Shyness, humility, quiet joy, tender thoughts, gentle love
Rosemary	Remembrance
Star of Bethlehem	Hope
Sweetpea	Shyness, farewell
Thyme	Peace
White Lilac	Youthful innocence, memories
White Lily	Purity
White Rose	Purity
White Tulip	Forgiveness

Birthday Month Flowers

Each month of the year also has one or more flowers associated with it. Choosing the flower for your baby’s birth month, due month, or conception month is another option for choosing meaningful flowers for your memorial garden.

Month	Flower
January	Carnation
February	Iris, violet, primrose
March	Daffodil
April	Daisy
May	Lily of the valley
June	Rose
July	Larkspur, water lily, sweet pea, delphinium
August	Gladiolus
September	Aster, forget-me-not
October	Calendula (marigold)
November	Chrysanthemum
December	Holly, poinsettia

Planting Your Favorite Flowers

While symbolism can lend a hand in choosing flowers for your memorial garden, there are no hard and fast rules that you have to include a flower for its symbolic meaning or association with a certain month of the year. If you have a favorite flower and it makes you think about your baby in a happy way, then absolutely use the flower that feels right to you. If you prefer vibrant reds to the more traditional whites or violets, those are the colors that you should include in your memorial garden.

If you have other children, you may plant a tree or flower for each of them to tend and watch grow, surrounded by the flowers that memorialize the child you lost. The most important thing to remember is that this should be a project that helps with your healing process. There are no "wrong" flowers to choose.