I love old cemeteries, and one of the great things about them is that they usually have terrific old trees. No one is going to cut them down because they can’t. Cemeteries are in essence a conservation easement in a city, even more secure than a park because a park can be modified. The Victorians used to have picnics in shady cemeteries on the graves of their loved ones, and that practice is generally not frowned upon in most cemeteries today as long as you don’t leave a mess.

There is a problem with planting memorial trees, and as someone who has been responsible for landscaping in various places I can tell you what it is. Trees die too. I’ve seen young memorial trees with a nice plague in front of them croak for a variety of reasons, and it presents a sad and embarrassing situation for the people who lost a loved one and for the people responsible for the grounds on which the tree is located. It’s almost like the deceased died twice. No one is going to have a second ceremony to plant another tree and eventually the nice plague goes into the dumpster so it doesn’t get hit with the mower, and there you are. Think twice before you do this in real life. There is a reason why people have had memorials made of stone for thousands of years.