Veterans Day Flowers for a Grave: Honoring Service on November 11

Memorial Day is for those who died in service. Veterans Day, November 11, is for everyone who served, which for most families means a father, grandfather, aunt or brother who came home, lived a full life and is buried in a family plot or a national cemetery. It is a quieter holiday at the cemetery than Memorial Day, and for that reason the flowers stand out more.

What to place

• Red, white and blue. Red roses or carnations, white lilies or mums, blue hydrangea or delphinium. In November the mums are seasonal and a patriotic mum arrangement does double duty as fall flowers.
• A small flag. National cemeteries place them; at private cemeteries families bring their own.
• Poppies. November 11 was Armistice Day before it was Veterans Day, and the red poppy of the First World War belongs to it. A few in the arrangement is the traditional touch.
• Branch colors. Some families choose an arrangement in the colors of the branch: navy and gold, scarlet and gold, Air Force blue. A ribbon does it without needing the flowers to match.

The national cemetery window

Veterans Affairs national cemeteries allow artificial flowers only in set periods, and Veterans Day is one of them: typically ten days before and after November 11. Because the general winter window opens in mid-October at most national cemeteries, a silk arrangement placed for Veterans Day can stay until spring. That makes November 11 the ideal date for the winter delivery at a veteran's grave. Our guide to flowers at a veteran's grave has the full policy.

At private and church cemeteries

Most private cemeteries have no special Veterans Day rules; the ordinary decoration rules apply, and silk arrangements in a vase or saddle are welcome. Many have a veterans section where the cemetery or a local veterans' organization places flags for the day. Flowers placed the week before are there for the ceremonies, which are usually held on the morning of the 11th.

Timing

Have flowers placed by November 8 or 9. Ceremonies and family visits fall on the day and the weekend nearest it, and a late-fall delivery is easier to schedule before the weather turns. Ordering in October is enough.

Veterans Day and the four-season plan

For a veteran's family the calendar has a natural shape: Memorial Day in May, the Fourth of July, Veterans Day in November, and the holidays in December. A plan with a delivery at each puts a patriotic arrangement at the grave for every date that honors service, and a holiday arrangement for the one that honors family. Our Memorial Day guide covers the first of those.