Placing an elegant flower arrangement on top of a headstone is a beautiful way to memorialize a loved one who has passed. But how do you attach the flowers so they don't blow away in the first wind that rolls through the cemetery after you've place them? You obviously don't want to have your flowers lost, but you also don't want to attach them in a fashion that looks bad or might damage the stone.
The headstone spray, which is a very popular style of grave site floral arrangement, can be placed on the ground atop the grave, on an easel next to the grave stone, or perched on top of the stone. Of the three options, having the spray on top of the stone looks the best, and is how the arrangement was really intended to be displayed.
Most sprays are sold with a saddle that is made of coat hanger-like wire that is bent to fit over the top of the stone and hold it in place. These saddles do a decent job of holding the flowers in place, but they can still be blown away if the wind gets strong. The other issues with saddles is often times they look cheap, and if they're made from low-cost materials, can rust and leave rusty streaks running down the face of the stone.
We've also seen other strategies for attaching flowers that are quite crude, ineffective, and unattractive, such as the use of plastic wrap, duct tape, wire, zip ties, and fishing line. While some of these strategies are quite creative and border on engineering marvels, they typically don't look very good. Especially when you get close!
Graveside Flowers sells a product that will anchor your flowers to a headstone in a way that is completely hidden from view, won't damage the stone, will hold up to a strong wind, is made from aluminum, so it won't rust...and doesn't cost that much more than a roll of duct tape. This innovative headstone flower arrangement anchor (pictured to the right) retails for just $14.99 and makes a perfect, and permanent, solution to the problem of securing flowers on top of a grave marker.
To buy one for yourself, click on the following link: http://www.gravesideflowers.com/collections/accessories/products/headstone-anchor
19 comments
Dana,
Get a sturdy plastic scraper from any hardware store, and slowly work it between the stone and anchor. Once the anchor comes off, use an alcohol swab to remove any sticky residue from the stone.
Thanks,
Graveside Flowers
It is described as not causing harm to the stone. However if you decide to remove this how do you do this without causing damage to the stone?
My parents have a stunning pillowtop grave marker, unfortunately it has no vases and i struggle to decorate it! Any thing left in the ground will be collected after a couple of days and I’m looking for ideas to attatch to marker or cement pad that the marker sits on. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Sue,
It definitely makes it more difficult to steal the arrangement, but sadly, there’s no way to completely prevent such a thing from happening.
Would these help with theives. My dad’s flowers are stolen within the week everytime I put new ones on. It’s not the staff of the city. They are aware of the thefts. It’s not just are family.