nor education 11 min read

By TerraCare

How to Create a Memorial Garden with Terramation Soil: A Practical Guide for Families (colloquially referred to as human composting)

Direct Answer

Families who choose natural organic reduction (NOR) receive approximately one-half cubic yard of nutrient-rich soil — the transformed remains of their loved one. That soil can be used to establish a living memorial garden: planted around trees, woven into flower beds, or spread across a meaningful landscape. Unlike a headstone or an urn on a shelf, a memorial garden grows and changes with the seasons, offering families an ongoing, living connection to someone they love. This guide walks through everything you need to know to create one — from choosing a location to selecting the right plants.

How do I create a memorial garden with terramation soil?

To create a memorial garden with terramation soil, choose a meaningful location with adequate sun and drainage, prepare the bed by loosening existing soil to 10–12 inches, and incorporate the Regenerative Living Soil as a rich amendment. Native perennials and long-lived trees work best — they return year after year without replanting and are well-adapted to nutrient-rich soil. One-half cubic yard covers roughly a 7×7-foot area at 3 inches deep, or can be concentrated in a smaller, deeply enriched planting bed.

  • Terramation soil covers approximately a 7×7-foot area at 3-inch depth or can be concentrated in a smaller planting bed for deeper enrichment.
  • Native plants are the best choice for memorial gardens — they support local pollinators, tolerate nutrient-rich soil without becoming leggy, and return each year.
  • A single tree planted with terramation soil worked into the planting hole creates a living memorial that can outlast any headstone.
  • Prepare beds by loosening existing soil to 10–12 inches before incorporating NOR soil; letting it settle for a few weeks before planting helps biology integrate.
  • Colorado families must avoid food-crop vegetable gardens; ornamental plantings, trees, and native landscapes are fully appropriate under Colorado law.

What You Receive After Terramation

When natural organic reduction is complete, what families receive is not ash or powder. It is soil — warm, earthy, and biologically active. Each person’s remains produce approximately one-half cubic yard of material, with a pH between 6.5 and 7 and a balanced profile of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur — nutrient-rich soil that families can use for gardening, spreading, or memorial spaces.

That cubic yard is substantial. In garden terms, it is enough to deeply enrich a new flower bed, support the planting of several trees or large shrubs, or create a dedicated memorial corner in a backyard. Families are not receiving a thimble of symbolic material — they are receiving genuine, plant-ready earth.

At TerraCare Partners, this soil output is called Regenerative Living Soil™. The name reflects something important: this is not inert material. It is biologically rich, structured for growth, and ready to sustain new life. To learn more about what happens during the terramation process itself, visit our overview at how terramation works.

Step 1: Choose a Location That Means Something

The most important decision in creating a memorial garden is not which plants to choose — it is where to put it.

Think about the person you are honoring. Did they spend summer mornings on the back porch? Did they have a favorite tree in the yard, or a corner where they liked to sit? A memorial garden works best when it is rooted in a place that already carries meaning, because the space will become a destination — somewhere family members return to, sit beside, and tend over the years.

Practical considerations for site selection:

  • Sunlight: Most flowering perennials and native plants need at least 6 hours of direct sun daily. Observe the space through a full day before committing.
  • Drainage: Terramation soil is nutrient-dense but should not sit in standing water. Choose a site with adequate drainage, or plan for raised bed construction.
  • Accessibility: The garden will need regular visits — not just for watering but for the emotional reason you built it. Make sure the location is somewhere you can actually reach and linger.
  • Scale: One-half cubic yard of soil covers roughly a 7×7-foot area at a 3-inch application depth, or can be concentrated in a smaller, deeply enriched planting bed. Do not feel obligated to spread it thin across a large space; concentrated application in a defined area creates richer growing conditions.

For more detail on soil volume and coverage, see our companion piece: How Much Soil Does Terramation Produce?

Step 2: Prepare the Garden Bed

Once you have chosen a location, the preparation work begins. This is where the Regenerative Living Soil is incorporated into the ground.

Basic bed preparation:

  1. Clear the area. Remove existing grass, weeds, and debris. For a new bed carved out of lawn, use a flat spade to cut and remove the sod layer.
  2. Loosen the existing soil. Use a garden fork or tiller to break up compaction to a depth of 10–12 inches. This allows roots to penetrate and water to drain.
  3. Incorporate the NOR soil. Spread the Regenerative Living Soil across the prepared bed and work it into the loosened native soil. For a dedicated memorial garden of 50–100 square feet, using the full one-half cubic yard creates a deeply enriched planting medium. For a larger area, blend it in as you would a premium compost amendment.
  4. Let it settle. If timing allows, prepare the bed a few weeks before planting. This gives the soil biology time to integrate with the native earth.

NOR soil works well for established shrubs, trees, house plants, and flower gardens, though some caution is warranted with tender annuals, which can be sensitive to the soil’s relative richness. In a memorial garden context, this is actually a gentle guide toward the more meaningful choices: perennials and woody plants that return year after year rather than annuals that must be replanted each spring.

For a deeper discussion of soil safety for garden use, including pathogen elimination during the NOR process, see: Is Terramation Soil Safe for Gardens and Plants?

Step 3: Choose Plants That Will Carry the Meaning Forward

Plant selection is where a memorial garden becomes personal. There is no single right answer, but there are principles that will serve both the garden and the memory well.

Native Plants: The Ecologically and Horticulturally Sound Choice

Native plants — species that evolved in your region before European settlement — are strongly recommended for memorial gardens built with NOR soil for two interconnected reasons.

First, they are ecologically meaningful. Native plants support local pollinators, birds, and insects in ways that ornamental imports cannot. A memorial garden planted with native species becomes a small refuge for local wildlife, extending its reach beyond the family that tends it.

Second, they are well-suited to nutrient-rich soil. NOR soil is comparable to a mature, high-quality compost — generous in nitrogen and organic matter. Native plants, which evolved in local soils without supplemental fertilization, are generally better adapted to integrate this richness without becoming leggy or imbalanced, as some heavy feeders can.

The USDA Forest Service describes native plants as indigenous species that “have evolved and occur naturally in a particular region, ecosystem, and habitat” and emphasizes their role in maintaining ecological communities. For families, planting natives in a memorial garden means participating in something larger than the garden itself.

To find native species suited to your ZIP code, use the USDA PLANTS Database (plants.sc.egov.usda.gov) and the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (planthardiness.ars.usda.gov), which identifies the correct hardiness zone for your location so you can choose plants that will survive your winters.

Plant Suggestions by Growing Condition

For sunny, well-drained beds:

  • Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) — beloved by pollinators, extremely hardy, blooms midsummer through fall
  • Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) — cheerful, drought-tolerant once established, naturalizes readily
  • Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) — fragrant, attracts hummingbirds and bees; deeply associated with prairies and meadows
  • Native ornamental grasses (Schizachyrium scoparium, little bluestem) — offer texture and winter interest, move beautifully in wind

For part-shade or woodland settings:

  • Wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) — delicate, early-blooming, a favorite of native bees
  • Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica) — ephemeral spring color, disappears gracefully by summer
  • Ferns (Osmunda or Dryopteris species) — deep green, structural, long-lived

For trees and shrubs (long-lived anchors):

  • Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) — spectacular spring bloom, heart-shaped leaves
  • Serviceberry (Amelanchier species) — four-season interest, wildlife habitat value
  • American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) — striking purple berries in fall, deeply ornamental

A single tree planted at the center of a memorial space — with the NOR soil worked into its planting hole and the surrounding bed — creates an enduring living marker that will outlast any stone.

Step 4: Plant Thoughtfully

Timing matters. Most perennials and shrubs establish best when planted in spring or early fall. Container-grown plants can go in almost any time the ground is workable.

Planting steps:

  1. Dig each hole at least twice as wide as the root ball and roughly equal in depth.
  2. If applying NOR soil locally (rather than bed-wide), incorporate it into the backfill around the roots.
  3. Water deeply at planting — consistent moisture is critical for first-season establishment.
  4. Apply a 2–3 inch layer of wood chip mulch around each plant, keeping it away from the crown.
  5. Note the planting date. Some families find it meaningful to keep a simple record of when each plant went in — a small part of the garden’s story.

Step 5: Tend the Garden Over Time

A memorial garden is not a project that ends at planting. It is a relationship that continues.

Most native perennials require minimal care once established — a fact that is quietly consoling. They do not demand daily attention. They return on their own each spring. They grow denser and more beautiful over years. This is the living memorial’s essential character: it does not need you to hold it in place. It simply grows.

Ongoing care:

  • Watering: Deeply but infrequently once established — most native perennials prefer this over frequent shallow watering.
  • Cutting back: In late fall or early spring, cut perennial stems to a few inches above the ground. Many families leave stems standing through winter for the birds and the texture.
  • Division: Every few years, dense perennial clumps can be divided and shared with others — an especially meaningful act when the planting originated from NOR soil.
  • Letting it evolve: A garden changes. Allow it to. Self-seeding plants, new visitors, seasonal shifts — the garden will carry and express time in ways a stone cannot.

A Note for Families in Colorado

Colorado families choosing natural organic reduction should be aware of a specific state restriction. Under Colorado SB 21-006, using NOR soil to grow food for human consumption is prohibited. This means Colorado families should direct their loved one’s Regenerative Living Soil toward ornamental plantings — flower gardens, shrub borders, native landscapes, and trees — rather than vegetable or herb gardens. All of the plant suggestions above are well suited to ornamental use and fully appropriate under Colorado law.

For families in other legal NOR states (Washington, Oregon, Vermont, California, Nevada, Arizona, Maryland, Delaware, Minnesota, Maine, Georgia, and New Jersey), food-crop restrictions vary and should be confirmed with the NOR provider directly. Washington, as the state that first legalized NOR under SB 5001, established the foundational regulatory framework that subsequent states have largely followed.

The Meaning of a Living Memorial

A headstone is fixed. It marks a spot and does not change. A living memorial grows, blooms, goes dormant, and returns. It requires something of you — attention, care, presence — and it gives something back: color in spring, shade in summer, the sound of bees, the smell of earth after rain.

This is the deeper logic of natural organic reduction itself. The NOR process does not preserve the body; it returns it. The Regenerative Living Soil carries the elemental material of a life back into the world where it can nourish new growth. A memorial garden is the most intentional way a family can honor that return.

Tending the garden is itself a form of grief work. It gives the hands something to do. It gives grief a location. And it lets families witness — year after year — that something continues.

Ready to Learn More?

Creating a memorial garden is one of the most meaningful ways families engage with NOR. To explore terramation options available through funeral homes in your state, or to find a partner facility that offers terramation services:

Ready to explore terramation options? Contact TerraCare Partners

Find a funeral home offering terramation in your state

You may also find these related articles helpful as you plan:

Sources

  1. Colorado General Assembly — SB 21-006 (prohibition on using NOR soil to grow food for human consumption). https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb21-006
  2. Washington State Legislature — SB 5001 (2019) (foundational NOR legalization, regulatory framework). https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5001&Year=2019
  3. USDA Agricultural Research Service — 2023 Plant Hardiness Zone Map (zone-based plant selection tool for gardeners). https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/
  4. USDA Forest Service — Native Plant Materials (definition and ecological value of native plants). https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/Native_Plant_Materials/index.shtml
  5. USDA PLANTS Database (native species identification and regional plant reference). https://plants.sc.egov.usda.gov/home
  6. TerraCare Partners — Partner Program (Regenerative Living Soil and terramation services). https://www.thenaturalfuneral.com/terracarepartnerprogram/