The Garden of Artful Remembrance at Heritage Gardens is designed as a sanctuary for individuals experiencing loss and grief.
The garden serves as a peaceful place for individuals to honour and remember their loved ones. It was inspired by the Little Campbell River that runs through a protected conservation area adjacent to the cemetery grounds.
Heritage Gardens' Andrew Wong says their vision is to create both a cemetery in the traditional sense and also an interactive environment for those processing grief.
The Heritage Gardens team have poured their hearts into creating a space guided by one question - “What can we do to help people heal, to bring them comfort when they’re going through one of the hardest moments in their lives?”
Landscaping plans
The garden will contain a selection of specific native plants, including some believed to evoke memories, especially for those with memory loss or dementia.
The space will also hold an elegant bronze sculpture of a phoenix, mounted on volcanic stone, symbolizing renewal, where families will have the option of laying ashes to rest under and around it. The phoenix is a focal point of the garden and offers families a beautiful and more affordable way to memorialize their loved ones.
“For many families, cost can be a barrier to memorialization. Our hope is that visitors or mourners alike will pause to stop and take in the imagery of the phoenix rising from the ashes.”
“We are all shaped differently by our experiences - and people have the freedom to interpret what they want from the phoenix rising from the ashes - at the same time it will be much more affordable,” he adds.
Provincial cemetery regulations indeed ensure the land remains dedicated to its purpose in perpetuity. A portion of the proceeds from each space sold goes to a care fund to ensure its long-term maintenance.
The uniqueness of cemetery spaces
"In an era where properties are often rezoned for maximum density and financial gain, cemeteries are unique spaces because the land legally remains unchanged.”
This cemetery has a sustainable revenue stream to maintain itself - serving as a protected space where people can grieve. “This sacred expectation of cemeteries as places for mourning creates the opportunity to utilize the land as a space of comfort and healing. "We shouldn’t mourn the dead, but celebrate their lives," Wong adds.
With 90 per cent of British Columbians opting for cremation, this garden represents a shift in how memorial spaces are organized.
“Cemeteries can no longer just be places to bury people; they need to serve the community as a whole. We want this garden to be a space anyone can visit, whether they're grieving or just need a peaceful place to reflect,” Wong says.
The ultimate goal is to make the Garden of Artful Remembrance a prototype for future cemetery spaces that emphasize healing through art, culture, nature and human connection. While the garden will serve as a resting place for the departed, it will also function as a sanctuary for the living.
The Garden of Artful Remembrance is part of Heritage Gardens’ larger vision to rethink cemetery spaces and be a leader in reimagining how society approaches death, grief and healing. To learn more, visit heritagegardenscemetery.com.