by Scott G. Kunst

Plants are an essential part of every old burial ground and deserve the same respect and care as any other historic artifact. In many burial grounds, scraps of pre-settlement vegetation survive. In most, mourners and caretakers have added favorite plants. Those surviving today create a living document that tells of local history, garden fashion, ethnic influences, and cultural change. Every plant lost diminishes the document and our understanding of the past.

These plants may also be great rarities. Old burial grounds have yielded roses and other living antiques once thought lost forever. To an untrained eye an overgrown lilac may seem identical to those at local garden centers — and therefore expendable or easily replaced — but a plant historian may recognize it as something distinct and rare. Even same weeds are historic plants; black locust seedlings may be descendants of trees that ringed a cemetery years ago. Plants can be amazingly tenacious. Until proved otherwise, consider each plant an irreplaceable bit of the historical record and an endangered species.

How to Find Historic Plants

Relic plants are often overlooked because they grow unobtrusively and in unexpected places. Getting down on hands and knees can be enormously revealing. Search first

at the base of the marker —front, sides, and back. Even if the grass is trimmed right up to it, look carefully; peonies and other plants can survive for years when mown to grass-height. Search apparently empty lawn, under overgrown shrubs, and at the base of trees. Search the perimeter of the burial ground, especially just outside any fence, and near the refuse pile. Escaped or discarded plants often survive there in benign neglect. Search through the year to discover bulbs and plants that go dormant. Map and describe everything found.

How to Protect Historic Plants

Most important is an informed attitude. When plants are regarded as historic artifacts and endangered species, half the battle is won. So spread the word.

Modem maintenance is perhaps the greatest danger to relic plants. Attempting to meet suburban lawn standards while cutting costs, many cemeteries mow and weedwhip brutally, destroying historic plants. Weed-killers eradicate those that have escaped into lawns and are especially destructive at the base of markers.

Unfortunately, graveyard preservation poses other dangers. "Cleanups" often sweep far too clean, and marker conservation work may damage plants. Rather than removing shrubs to protect markers, prune judiciously or dig and move them a few feet. As a last resort, take cuttings to replant. Changes in the microclimates in old burial grounds can cause problems also. Trees and shrubs mature, for example, shading once sunny spots. Though some changes can be moderated, at times it may be necessary to relocate a plant.

It may also make sense to reestablish plants that survive only as "escapes," or to increase the numbers of a threatened plant. In any rescue, keep in mind that no matter how endangered a plant may seem, it has long survived as

is. Intervention often leads to extinction. Moving or increasing a plant also changes the historical record, so use discretion and document.

Collecting seeds is the least damaging way to propagate. To reproduce a plant exactly, take cuttings or dig a tiny piece, leaving most in place. Never jeopardize the continued life of the original plant.

Avoid introducing new plants into old burial grounds, since it alters the historical record, and the new may grow to overwhelm the old.

Scott G. Kunst is a landscape historian and preservation planner in Ann Arbor. Michigan. He teaches courses in landscape preservation at Eastern Michigan University.