The annual Altona Memory Garden planting took place on Monday, June 4th, and I had the opportunity to see how much this means to the community, and those that have lost loved ones.

The memory garden began in 2007 with one garden and four trees planted. Plants for the garden may be purchased at any time during the year but only one planting service during the spring will take place in a fresh area across from Gardens On 10th

This years total amount of perennials, shrubs, and trees planted was 34 and close to 200 people showed up.

Eric Hildebrand, one of the coordinators of the Memory Gardens, mentioned how a few benches and a path were also going to be placed in the garden sometime over the summer.

“Please don’t ever hesitate to pull weeds or maintain this garden. We want this to be everyone’s garden and it seems that the more people that pull a weed while walking by…the healthier it is.” says Hildebrand