Lilac on a Headstone: Meaning

For many people, the scent of lilacs is the scent of spring — and of childhood. Lilac bushes often outlive the farmhouses they were planted beside, making them a powerful symbol of memory.

What it means

Lilacs and memory

Lilacs bloom in late spring, and their fragrance is famous for bringing back memories. After President Lincoln's death in April 1865, as the lilacs were blooming, Walt Whitman wrote his great elegy "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd", now in the public domain. Lilac is the state flower of New Hampshire, and old lilac bushes still mark the sites of long-gone homesteads across rural Canada and the US.

Design ideas

• Heavy lilac clusters hanging from the top of the stone.
• A lilac bush beside a farmhouse.
• Purple colour-fill on grey granite.
• Lilacs framing a portrait.

Who it suits

Grandmothers with lilac hedges, families with farm roots, people born or remembered in late spring, and first loves. See flower meanings.

Whitman's elegy

"When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd" — the poem's first line — is a beautiful, public-domain epitaph for someone who died in spring or loved lilacs. See headstone quotes about spring.

A cutting from home

Lilacs grow easily from cuttings and suckers. Some families take a shoot from a grandparent's bush and plant it at home, keeping a living link to the family farm.

Epitaphs to pair

• When lilacs bloom, we remember.
• First love, forever love.
• Home is where the lilacs grow.
• Sweet memories.

Key Takeaways

• Lilacs mean first love, memory and renewal.
• Purple means first love; white, innocence.
• Whitman's lilac elegy is public domain.
• Old lilacs mark long-gone homesteads.

Next Step

See wisteria meaning and lavender meaning.