PARD has weed-wacked every one. . .
I have not posted any pictures of the memorial gardens at Austin Memorial Park (AMP) we have planted on our parents' and my niece's graves on this blog because I did not want to make these gravesites a target for vandalism. That precaution is no longer necessary because sometime between July 28, 2023, and August 9, 2023, PARD desecrated their final resting places and utterly destroyed the long-established gardens, apparently by weed-whacking everything into the ground. Not only had there been no notice, we had previously been promised by PARD that we would be allowed to maintain the gardens and that PARD would not touch them as long as everything was within the gravesites.
On April 13, 2023, my brother Steven Weintraub sent me an email that he had received a call from Jason Walker from Austin Cemetery Operations. According to my brother, Walker stated that the mayor's office had directed him to call and that our three graves will be put on an owner's maintenance list. Walker explained that the city will no longer maintain our family gravesites, but will mark them as owner maintenance. Walker told my brother that he had been through the cemetery in the last few days and said what we have is currently in compliance.
I responded to Steven that this was a break-through of sorts, but what the Cemetery Division giveth the Cemetery Division taketh away. I noted that unless we have something in writing, everything can change, especially if a new regime takes control. I also stated that I have never heard of an “owner’s maintenance list” throughout this nearly decade ordeal and wondered whether this is a new policy and how it will be publicized and implemented. I further replied that this still does not address issues like the proposed cemetery rules and where they currently stand, the Cemetery Division’s current wholesale looting and desecration of gravesites, or the overall neglect and poor maintenance of the cemeteries. I also stated that I wanted to see the Perpetual Care Trust Fund finally implemented and transparently operated, or otherwise, PARD will just wait for us “owners” all to die so that they can dance on our graves (or, in their case, run heavy equipment over them).
I suggested requesting a face-to-face with Walker and getting some sort of written agreement/process regarding this owner's maintenance list. However, coordinating our schedules was not easy and the request kept getting put off.
Now, PARD has indeed taketh away. I combed my Facebook page, which is open to only limited friends and family, and located the following pictures of the gardens. Basically, since my Sister-in-Law Tina Huckabee first planted a memorial garden on her daughter's grave in 2006, there has always been something green, growing, and often blooming, on our family's gravesites.
This picture is from April 17, 2017.
The large gravesite with the two headstones is for our parents, Russell and Zelda Weintraub. The grave next to them is for my niece Shoshana. The plants at the head of our parents' graves are Englemann or cutleaf daisies. They are a drought-hardy, tough native wildflowers with evergreen fern-like leaves. Over the years, these flowers have flourished; I have had to cut them back during the hottest, driest parts of the summer, but with a little rain or extra watering, they bounced back to bloom again (actually, I could have left them alone, but I preferred to keep the garden looking tidy).
March 28, 2018
April 4, 2019
April 11, 2019
The Englemann daisies are a favorite of pollinators.
In the center of the garden is a twist-leaf yucca, another drought-hardy native. The yucca has bloomed every year with delicate bell-shaped blossoms.
On the sides are pink and purple skullcaps. They are small mounding evergreen perennials that love sun and need little water.
Pink skullcap.
Purple skullcap
There are a couple of more recent additions that I do not have pictures of at the gravesites, but instead am using photographs from my own gardens. Tina gave me some orange daylilies she had cultivated from my parents' home. I added several to our parents' memorial garden and they bloomed this spring. These flowers therefore not only added beauty, they had special sentimental value.
Someone had trampled, broke, and uprooted several of the skullcaps at the foot of the gravesite, as well as on the right side. While I was able to salvage one pink skullcap on the side (it was coming back just before PARD shredded it), I replaced the ones at the foot with a row of four-nerve daisies. Preferring full sun and dry soil, these tough little plants have low clumps of deep-green leaves and bright-yellow blooms that are an important nectar source.
Another view of the garden taken May 11, 2017. The grave to the left of my parents' gravestones commemorates my niece, Shoshana. There has been a garden there since 2006. The rich green leaves at the top of her grave are crinum lilies transplanted from Tina's mother's garden. These were established heirloom lilies. At the foot is zexmenia, a hardy native flower with yellow daisy-like flowers.
April 7, 2020
I also must note that I visit my family's gravesite on a weekly basis, weeding, pruning, and watering (I have now treated myself to a 100-foot hose that I carry in my trunk for watering instead of trying to haul around four one-gallon jugs of water). I was going out of town on July 28, 2023, for a week-long trip, so I made two trips to Austin Memorial Park (AMP) that week before I left, giving the gardens a good soak each time and pruning. On my last visit, July 27, 2023, the Englemann daisies were starting to leaf out again, the purple skullcap had filled out and looked as if it was ready to bloom again, the pink skullcap was coming back, and the daylilies and four-nerve daisies had healthy green foliage. I returned to Austin on August 4, 2023, but came back with a bout of Covid-19 and was too sick to visit AMP and check on the gardens. I tested negative on August 9th, but on August 10th received a text from Tina that the memorial gardens had been destroyed.
The only remaining plant is the yucca, but it has suffered severe damage to its leaves. It may survive and I will try cutting back some of the damage, but will take a long, long time before it looks full and healthy again.
What remains of an Englemann daisy. You can see that the leaves were green at the time PARD sliced and diced it.
All that remains of the once-lush purple skullcap. Note the shredded bits of green.
I went to AMP on August 10, 2023, to look at the damage myself. After viewing the desecration, I donned an N95 surgical mask and went to the office, demanding to know who authorized the destruction of the gardens and when. No one could provide me with any paperwork. PARD employee Jorge MartÃnez accompanied me back to the ruined gardens and took some pictures with his phone, but denied any knowledge of what happened. He said that he would pass my complaint on to Walker.
On August 11, 2023, Steven received a call from Walker apologizing for the destruction of the gardens, telling Steven that it was in error and stating that PARD would pay to replace the plants. One purpose of this posting is to document the destroyed garden plantings. However, I still want to know who authorized the destruction of the gardens, when, and why. I worked with the Texas Senate for almost 23 years and accordingly have some idea how bureaucracies work. Pretty much nothing gets done without some sort of order or paperwork. I doubt some PARD employee was simply handed a weed-eater and told to wander around the cemetery in triple-digit temperatures until he found something green and then massacre it. Accordingly, I will be filing a public information request regarding all documentation regarding the destruction of these long-established memorial gardens.
The final irony, or insult to injury. . . this year a sign was posted at AMP promoting its "Wildflower Meadow." Yet, the carefully selected and established wildflowers growing on our family's gravesites were not granted the same endorsement or protection.
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