Boxwood Cemetery letting grass grow tall in some spots to help with erosion

‘Moving forward, we are working on a long-term erosion mitigation plan for the top sections of the cemetery’

Photos and information courtesy of Boxwood Cemetery Commission

MEDINA – If you have visited the historic hillside sections of Boxwood Cemetery recently, you are likely to notice a change; the grass is growing taller, and the mowers have grown quiet in these older, more historic areas.

To some, this might seem like neglect, but in reality, it is a deliberate, urgent rescue mission to save our community’s history at Boxwood Cemetery. Every blade of grass, wildflower, and ground plant is reaching down, weaving its roots with its neighbors and quite literally holding hands underground to save our hillsides from washing away.

For decades, the steep slopes of our oldest sections have faced a quiet crisis. Traditional lawnmowers and string trimmers, while well-intentioned, scrape away topsoil and weaken grass roots on steep inclines.  Without deep roots to hold the earth together, the hillsides are slowly washing away.  Historic headstones are shifting, tilting, and in some cases, falling and breaking as the ground gives away beneath them.

This year, the Boxwood Commission and the Department of Public Works for the Village of Medina have made a conscious, strategic decision to pause mowing on the hillside areas to preserve these irreplaceable monuments and prevent further destruction.

Moving forward, we are working on a long-term erosion mitigation plan for the top sections of the cemetery. In the meantime, we ask for your patience and your understanding to support this healing process. We are not abandoning these sacred grounds; we are giving them the time and defense they desperately need to heal.

This month, Nell Gardner – horticulturist, agronomist, flower grower and historical landscape expert – took a walk with us through Boxwood Cemetery to help us determine if our pause in mowing and string trimming has made a positive impact. She was very hopeful of us being able to stabilize the vegetation in the cemetery. Gardner states that we need to continue to work on the areas that are still bare by planting some low mow grasses and native wildflowers so we can evolve those into well stabilized sod with added value.

Our goal will be to mow roadways and paths on the hillside for accessibility, and outline steep areas to mow once or twice per year. Gardner states, her “hope is that by establishing more vegetation on all the bare areas, reducing mowing and directing drainage, the cemetery will be stabilized and improved.”

Jacob Hebdon, Boxwood Commission president, would like The Boxwood Commission to develop a maintenance plan so that in future years the cemetery grounds will remain sustainable and stable.

Thank you to our community for standing with us as we protect Boxwood Cemetery for generations to come.

Article submitted by Gloria Snyder – Member of the Boxwood Commission.