What Is A Cremation Garden

What will soon be a meticulously landscaped garden with a pond and circular walkways is taking shape in a corner of the Roseland Park Cemetery at Woodward Avenue and 12 Mile Road in Berkley. By the end of September, the garden will boast pillars, benches and other monuments, as well as shrubs and flowering plants.

The development, called the Woodward Garden for Cremation, is the latest effort of the cemetery operator to respond to the growing preference for cremation over traditional burial in Michigan and across the country.

Everyone deserves a permanent memorial, said Mathew Forastiere, a vice president with Park Lawn Corporation, which owns Roseland Park and 27 other cemeteries in Michigan, but with the rise in popularity of cremation, many people have been left without such a remembrance.

"There are just generations of families that no longer have a permanent place," Forastiere said, noting that some have chosen to scatter remains in the ocean or keep remains at home. But having a place separate from their everyday living space to come and remember and grieve helps families in the healing process after a death, he said.

Across metro Detroit, cemeteries have begun to add gardens and other spaces that cater specifically to those choosing cremation, both to satisfy consumer demand and to keep cemeteries financially viable.

A rendering of the Woodward Garden for Cremation at Roseland Park Cemetery in Berkley.

During the next two to five years, for example, Park Lawn plans to also add gardens at Acacia Park Cemetery in Beverly Hills, Oakview Cemetery in Royal Oak, Cadillac Memorial Gardens East in Clinton Township, Washtenong Memorial Park in Ann Arbor and Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit.

"Almost all progressive cemeteries are moving toward taking care of the cremation consumer," said Bert Edquist, president of the Michigan Cemetery Association and owner of Mission Hills Memorial Chapel Crematory and Gardens in Niles and North Shore Memory Gardens in Coloma.

Cemeteries have to move in that direction to stay relevant, he said, as more than half of people today choose cremation rather than traditional burial. He said burials in his cemeteries, for example, are down by a third compared with 10 years ago and revenue from burials is down about 25%. He has been able to make that revenue up by adding a crematory but said cemeteries that don't have crematories or cremation gardens or a focus on options for memorialization of cremated remains will struggle financially.

At cremation gardens, families can choose nontraditional memorials, including placing remains in benches, within boulders and in community or private columbaria. Some gardens also offer an area for scattering remains.

Workers install a columbarium for the new Woodward Garden for Cremation at Roseland Park Cemetery in Berkley.

Roseland Park's garden, which is costing about $500,000 to develop, will have space for 6,000 cremated remains. Options range from about $2,000 to place a single set of remains in the garden with space for memorialization to upwards of $30,000 or more for a private columbarium with multiple niches and landscaping.

While only a few people have bought interment rights in the garden so far, Forastiere said the cemetery has had numerous meetings with prospective families.

Cremation is the choice of many

Statistics from the Cremation Association of North America show about 60% of people who died in Michigan in 2018 were cremated. For the U.S., that figure was about 53%. Forty years ago, the cremation rate in the U.S. was about 8.5%.

Barbara Kemmis, executive director of the Cremation Association of North America, has seen a big change in the number and kinds of products and services offered for cremation.

"I've been going to not just our trade shows but cemetery trade shows for eight years," she said. "In the beginning there was almost nothing for cremation. That has completely flipped."

Workers install a center columbarium for the new Woodward Garden for Cremation at Roseland Park Cemetery in Berkley on Friday, Aug. 30, 2019. Truckloads of memorial and columbaria were delivered for the planned cremation garden to accommodate the growing trend of people choosing cremation over traditional burial.

More:The cremation boom is disrupting Michigan's funeral business

Kemmis and others said the reasons for the growth in the number of cremations vary. Cost is one factor often cited by those choosing cremation, which can be cheaper than traditional burial depending on what choices are made, but Edquist said a decline in the percentage of those with religious beliefs and a reluctance to confront and process death may play into it as well.

Costs vary by location. At the Bacarella Funeral Home in Monroe, for example, the lowest cost for a direct cremation, not including a service or cemetery interment, is $1,695, said Justin Miller, a funeral director at the business. For direct burial, the lowest cost is $2,685, not including a casket, cemetery charges or the usually required grave liner or vault.

What the customer wants

Michael Huggins, general manager at Roselawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Monroe County added the Butterfly Garden for cremated remains in 2015. Walkways in the shape of a butterfly's wings outline the garden, which features flowering plants to attract butterflies.

The Butterfly Garden for cremated remains at Roselawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Monroe County.

Options for cremated remains start at $499 to place remains in a velvet bag inside a pedestal in the center of the garden and have a nameplate placed on the pedestal. At the upper end of the range of options is a 4-foot tall granite column with spaces for two cremated remains at a cost of $5,999.

The garden has space for more than 600 cremated remains and includes a scattering garden with an open granite book, where the names of those whose remains are scattered in the garden can be inscribed. Other options include boulders and niches with space for cremated remains. Clients can also opt to release butterflies in the garden during a service.

About 20% of the interment rights in the garden have been sold.

Huggins said the garden helps clients because they can see exactly what they're purchasing.

"People don't know what's available," he said. "They don't know what they want. You can't really sell anything from a book. … They can walk through the garden … and make the decision based on what it looks like and what they want to spend."

It was such a visit that convinced 54-year-old Lisa Miri of Macomb County to purchase interment rights for herself and her husband in the Prince of Peace Cremation Garden at Resurrection Cemetery in Clinton Township.

The 4-acre garden opened about four years ago and the cemetery has sold interment rights to nearly 150 families, said Frank Oldani, director of family services at the cemetery.

Prince of Peace Cremation Garden at Resurrection Cemetery in Clinton Township

Miri had gone to a promotional dinner a couple of years ago and then on a tour of the cremation garden. "That was really nice," she said. She had considered purchasing space in a mausoleum but decided on the garden instead.

"I would rather have my ashes laid to rest in a garden than in a mausoleum," she said.

More:Graveyard deals: Why would you buy a cemetery plot in advance?

She spent about $4,000 to purchase a marker and reserve space in the garden for the couple's remains. She said she wanted to take care of it now rather than burdening someone else with it after her death. "I just don't want anybody else to worry about that."

She had decided long ago on cremation. "I don't want to lie intact," she said. "I think it's just a personal preference, and that's mine."

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