The sun is shining, the bees are buzzing and the early bloomers are adding colorful accents to gardens, flower beds and many graves. The grasses are also starting to grow, at the latest when the long-awaited rain begins to fall. There's no mistaking it: The growing season is beginning and with it the garden maintenance work. For the staff at Wiesbaden's cemeteries, the first pass with the lawnmower this year is already on the horizon.

Experience has shown that the green shoots are particularly strong in spring, making the first mowing of the year a particular challenge. To make this work easier, the cemetery department asks for the support of the relatives of the deceased. Throughout the year, grave care items such as watering cans, tools and flower vases are stored in many grave compartments and flower arrangements or figurines are placed behind headstones and next to the grave. It is often only possible to mow and maintain the areas around the graves if the specialists from the Parks Department clear away the many grave goods beforehand. This is very time-consuming, as the memorabilia also needs to be treated with the appropriate care.

According to the current cemetery statutes, it is forbidden to place objects outside the gravesite and to place grave decorations on certain types of graves, such as tree graves, urn graves and graves in the ground, as well as urn walls. Special areas are provided for this purpose in the relevant grave sections. As part of the upcoming green maintenance work, the cemetery department therefore requests that existing objects and flower arrangements outside the grave borders and on the grave slabs of the above-mentioned grave types be removed.

Any items still present after this time will be removed to the adjacent storage areas by the staff of the Parks Department and wilted grave arrangements will be disposed of. Information on the various types of graves and the associated design regulations is available on the website www.friedhoefe-wiesbaden.de.

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