Although I have no belief in life after death that is quite different from not respecting the dead, and I am at a loss to understand how putting a bunch of plastic flowers on a grave shows any kind of respect. If anything the opposite is true: the use of these polymer or artificial silk eyesores are indicative of a person who, for one reason or another, won't be returning to properly tend a grave. Worse, the hedgerows around Byfield Burial Ground are littered with the bits and pieces of these artefacts; the structures disintegrate but the components appear to be absolutely non-biodegradable.
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Dozens of disintegrating artificial flowers litter the beech hedgerow
around Byfield's burial ground. This poppy was presumably dropped on or
11 November but shows no sign of decaying. 22 February, 2020
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'BUY ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS FOR GRAVES ON AMAZON'
...screams one on-line advert I found on Google. But why? Carefully chosen bulbs should not only produce flowers year after year but with luck will thrive and spread. Now it is true that daffodils - perhaps the most popular choice - are very limited in their support for wildlife but they are infinitely more likely to attract bees and other insects than kitsch plastic substitutes.
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Insect visitors to this 'flower' arrangement are unlikely.
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Confucius famously said, 'Everthing has its beauty but not everyone sees it'. I have tried to see beauty in these dusty, faded bunches of polythene 'flowers' but beyond Jimmy Saville and rap music I have failed to imagine anything uglier.
Artificial flowers are now cleverly made and a glance from a distance can deceive the onlooker into thinking that they are the real thing, but they are by no means long-lasting. Unfortunately after a few months green 'leaves' can take on an odd blue-grey appearance, displaying a colour never seen in nature.
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A wind-blown pot of 'flowers' beside the burial ground entrance.
Byfield, 22 February, 2020
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Artificial flowers are now cleverly made and a glance from a distance can deceive the onlooker into thinking that they are the real thing, but they are by no means long-lasting. Unfortunately after a few months green 'leaves' can take on an odd blue-grey appearance, displaying a colour never seen in nature.
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Although not obvious from the photograph, some of these 'leaves' are taking
strange glaucous grey-green colours. 22 February, 2020
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On a different note, to see a furry teddy bear on a child's grave can be heartbreakingly sad, and the vision is worse when the teddy begins to decay, Yet oddly enough, the decaying flower heads on a real plant are symbolic of death itself. Though temporarily unsightly the withered stems and petals will be recycled, to give life elsewhere. Resurrection!
Footnote I almost gave this blog the title of Polymerus vulgaris, a polymer being a long-chain, repeating molecule of the kind from which plastics are made, but then recalled that Polymerus is a genus of mirid bugs, including the British native, Polymerus unifasciatus. For all I know there may actually be a bug called Polymerus vulgaris. If so it will probably be of an insipid pink or a lurid purple colour.
Tony White E-mail: diaea@yahoo.co.uk
Footnote I almost gave this blog the title of Polymerus vulgaris, a polymer being a long-chain, repeating molecule of the kind from which plastics are made, but then recalled that Polymerus is a genus of mirid bugs, including the British native, Polymerus unifasciatus. For all I know there may actually be a bug called Polymerus vulgaris. If so it will probably be of an insipid pink or a lurid purple colour.
Tony White E-mail: diaea@yahoo.co.uk
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