A first-of-its-kind botanical memorial garden will reimagine the way we celebrate life.
Mornington Green is furthering Living Legacy Forest’s vision for a new way of celebrating life, by creating a greener alternative to traditional burials and offering a more personal and immersive experience.
Living Legacy Forest has scientifically pioneered a way to treat a loved one’s ashes and create living molecules from them, so their energy can live on through trees.
The treated ashes are infused with your selection of one of 16 mature trees, like Japanese maples, cherry blossoms and jacaranda trees, where loved ones can visit and celebrate their life.
Mornington Green has acquired a former golf course in the naturally picturesque Mornington Peninsula and over the coming years are converting it into a breathtaking botanical garden for families to visit and celebrate life.
The team envisions families coming together to plant their trees, watch them grow, enjoy picnics and the gardens before someday returning to infuse their ashes once they’re gone.
Although it’s a topic most tend to avoid discussing, it’s important that everyone plan ahead for the inevitable.
Mornington Green encourages people to pre-plan their final resting place by inspecting the beautiful grounds for themselves with family.
Warren Roberts, founder and CEO of Living Legacy Forest said: “This is a unique way of remembering your loved one. The idea first came to me when I lost a dear friend, and it was not until I was spending time in nature that I was able to heal and grieve in a positive way.
“It was at this moment I started wondering what it would be like if people’s ashes were within the trees, they could still have a spiritual connection to nature.”
The team is serious about leaving the world a better place and is committed to planting 400 additional trees for each Legacy Tree added to Mornington Green, in partnership with One Tree Planted and Eden Projects.
During the first release, Living Legacy Forest will contribute more than 120,000 trees to the earth – both in Australia and globally.
“We believe that in a way, the person’s ashes being infused within a tree was also a way to support endangered wildlife and sustainability,” said Mr Roberts.
“Our mission is to connect people to beauty that life created by planting living memorial forests which honour and perpetuate life, it’s a wonderful thing to leave behind.”
Located on 126,000sqm of gardens on the Mornington Peninsula, the memorial trees will have a special significance to families who have lost loved ones – and those planning for their legacy after they pass on.
It will be their sanctum but is also part of a larger community that grows with every tree.
The average city has a cemetery footprint twice the size of its CBD and most developed cities have run out of local burial space.
Living Legacy Forest is the beginning of a new memorial experience, and given the predictions that the planet will soon run out of burial space (and with cremation rates soaring in Australia), Mornington Green may be a much more economical option while taking collective responsibility for leaving the world a better place.
