I am part of a parent team creating a memorial garden for a beloved kindergarten teacher who passed suddenly. We have two large (about 3' diameter and 2' deep) concrete containers beside a memorial bench. This is a shady site (some afternoon sun) that is part of a cedar, rhodo, fern forest which faces a playground (lots of squirrels) on Vancouver's North Shore. We were thinking of planting a tree in each container with some perennials around the base. Any suggestions for trees, plants etc. We want this to be low maintenance, drought tolerant etc. etc. but very beautiful of course. Am I dreaming?
Maybe native plants dug from the surrounding forest, next to roads or paths where there are quantities of them that have sprouted close together and that cannot all grow on to maturity where they are (due to crowding and proximity to access routes). Different arrangement in each pot, rather than matching pairs. Do not move anything wild-collected from less sun into more sun, especially at this time of the year.
I hope you don't dig up some native plants! I personally feel that they should be left in the ground....native plants can however be purchased from lots of nurseries. My suggestions would be hostas, or astilbes. Both are beautiful and low maintenance.
I think I would suggest japanese maples, although if this is a public site there might be some risk of theft. You could plant them somewhat off-centre, add a couple of other feature plants (eg hostas or hellebores) and then a ground cover to avoid weediness. MissPrissy, Ron suggested that the native plants dug up be some that will be sacrificed anyway. Be that as it may, they can indeed all be purchased somewhere.
