I want every plant maintained as it was on the day that I died, with nothing to change for 100 years.

UGH! NO WAY! The whole point to having my own garden is to enjoy in the changes, remember the year that the peony didn't even bloom for some reason but the roses, oh they were amazing. And looking in a corner and remembering that there once stood a beautiful old viburnum there, but it was taken out by a storm and replaced with a cherry that filled many pint jars with tart jam. And on and on.

I know that there are lots of famous gardens that are maintained as they were... creations of Vita Sackville-West and Lutyens/Jekyll, for example. While they may be pretty, they're things that you walk through once--or see in a book--and don't need to go back through again. For me, the garden is dynamic... if it wasn't, we'd all just be landscaping with cement figures instead of living things.

True Kim. But what if the alternative is demolition?

I've already left behind a succession of small suburban lots turned into gardens. If I have a garden when I die, I hope that other gardeners would come and dig up any rare or heirloom plants, taking them home and giving them new settings, but otherwise - let those who live in this world make the decisions.

Annie

Que sera sera. Whatever would be left would not be my garden anymore anyway!

My fondest dream would not be that the "new owners" of my garden would keep it as a sterile shrine... it would be that they live in it a year, learn the microclimates and sun patterns, and then start to turn it into their own garden, tweaking it to their own delight or just razing the whole thing and starting from scratch. Just so they interact with the land and nature... if everyone interacted with the land and nature, I would be supremely happy. :)

So how about you? Would you prefer to see yours to continue to be tended as it is now?

Part of me would like a garden to supersede my time here on earth but I hear what you're saying and would probably agree.

The garden is very dynamic and trends, lifestyles etc are always changing so to expect others to enjoy what I've done 20, 50, 100 years from now is pretty selfish I guess.

I do however enjoy hearing stories of gardeners who have uncovered an "Edna Walling" (or similar) landscaped garden and are restoring it back to its original plan. I think if we always move forward we have the tendency to forget the past.