Mind if I inject a little humor? Years ago, W. C. Fields bought a plot in Forest Lawn Cemetery. For years after, he was in a constant battle with cemetery management. He would plant tomatoes , in the plot, and they would make him take them out. He would argue that he bought the plot, but it was to no avail. This is true. The story of his epitaph reading, "On the whole, I would rather be here than in Philadelphia, " is false. Roy Schmidt >>> <[email protected]> 11/30/00 04:01PM >>> I walked through a few cemeteries while visiting Germany during the summer months. I was astonished to see what Katharina described as little flower gardens, and many people pruning, weeding & watering them. They were absolutely beautiful. I guess the closest thing Americans might come to it is our old fashioned decoration day. Both of my mother's parents' people have family cemeteries that are still maintained in North Carolina, and they have an annual decoration day. On that day, the family members, who still live near by, gather to rake the winter's debris, clean the stones and put new, but unfortunately, plastic flowers across the plots. I wonder if this is a result of the original decoration day for the union soldiers following the Civil War - oops, I digress. I've often that of developing a garden plot for Grandfather's grave in that family cemetery, much like the ones I saw in his native country. The family would probably think nutty! Ginny