Can you recommend any services that offer gravesite cleaning and care?

Depending on where your family members are buried, there are a variety of places you can turn to for gravesite grooming, decorating and special care. Here is what you should know.

Gravesite Care

It is important to know that typically most cemeteries may only provide basic ground maintenance like mowing the grass and picking up trash. Special gravesite care and headstone cleaning are almost always up to the family. But for families who live a distance from their loved one’s burial place and cannot visit very often, what options are available?

A good place to start is to contact the cemetery where your family is buried and talk to the staff and see if they offer any special gravesite cleaning services or know of anyone who does. If not, try reaching out to local funeral homes in the area to see if they can help or have referrals.

Another option is to hire a gravesite care provider on your own. These are small or individually run businesses that provide services like plot maintenance including grass trimming and weeding, headstone cleaning and restoration, flower and wreath deliveries and more. For your convenience and to confirm the work was completed or the flowers were delivered, many companies will take pictures of the gravesite and e-mail or text them to you.

There are hundreds of small businesses that provide gravesite care services in local communities or regions across the country. To find them, do an internet search using keywords like “grave care services” or “cemetery headstone cleaning” plus your city or state.

You can also seek help by contacting the local memorial society or Funeral Consumer Alliance program near your family’s gravesite. These are volunteer groups that offer a wide range of information on local funeral and cremation providers, cemeteries and more.

The cost for most gravesite care services can range anywhere from $50 to $250 for headstone cleaning and memorial restoration (depending on the size of the job and frequency), $50 to $200 for flower and wreath deliveries, and $30 to $80 for plot grooming. Special discounts for multiple gravesite services or repeated visits may also be an option.

Floral Services

If you are interested in decorating your family’s gravesite with fresh cut flowers or live plants, another option is to call a local florist to see if they can make a delivery directly to their grave site. Many florists will accommodate this request if you provide them with the cemetery location and plot number, but you may not get a photo verifying the delivery.

Savvy Living is written by Jim Miller, a regular contributor to the NBC Today Show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book. Any links in this article are offered as a service and there is no endorsement of any product. These articles are offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends and may not always reflect this organization’s official position on some topics. Jim invites you to send your senior questions to: Savvy Living, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070.