Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery Flower Rules, Hours and Finding a Grave

Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery opened for burials in May 2000 and serves veterans across North Texas. Like every VA cemetery, it posts its own floral policy, and its dates are not the same as every other national cemetery's. Here is what it says, checked against the VA's page for the cemetery.

Visiting and the office

• Address: 2000 Mountain Creek Parkway, Dallas, TX 75211.
• Grounds: open daily, sunrise to sunset.
• Office: Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, phone 214-467-3374. Call ahead about holiday closings.

The flower rules, season by season

• Fresh cut flowers: allowed all year. They are removed once they look faded, and temporary flower containers are available.
• Artificial flowers: allowed only from October 1 through April 1.
• Christmas wreaths and grave blankets: allowed only from December 1 through January 20, and no larger than 2 feet by 3 feet.
• Potted plants: allowed 10 days before and 10 days after Easter, Memorial Day and Christmas.
• How many: two arrangements for a casket grave, one for a cremation site.

What is not allowed

• Plantings, at any time.
• Statues, vigil lights, shepherd's hooks and anything breakable.
• Anything secured or stuck to a headstone, marker or niche cover.

Flowers go on the ground or in a temporary container in front of the headstone or columbarium niche. During the growing season, all floral items are cleared every two weeks, and everything left becomes government property.

What that means this fall

From October 1, silk arrangements are welcome, which makes fall and winter the easiest time to keep flowers at a grave here. For Veterans Day, a silk or fresh arrangement works. From December 1, a wreath or small grave blanket can go down for Christmas.

Finding a grave

The cemetery has kiosks at the Public Information Center (during visiting hours) and at the administration office (business hours) that print a map to the grave. Before you go, you can search the VA's Nationwide Gravesite Locator. Our guide to finding a veteran's grave explains how.