I'm sorry for the loss of your pet.

Maybe you should choose to plant something that is already existant in the state park? Take seeds from something already there and plant them for Bagel. I hope you don't consider me uncompassionate/indifferent for saying so, and I know it's not what you need to hear right now but I'm not sure burrying your pet in a state park is a good idea, it may even be illegal, not sure.

That doesn't mean you can't plant something nice in your chosen spot in his/her honor and take some of it to Illinois with you to remember your pet. Try and ID some of the things already growing there that you like or find interesting. If you take pictures I'm sure people on this forum will help to ID them for you

Cool and shady? Hepatica is nice and will blossom early every spring to remind you.

Sorry for your pet, but I don't think you have the right to bury or plant anything on state land.

Hi Karen,
I'm sorry for the loss of your pet. Many years ago, I buried my little Pookie (peruvian guinea pig) in a woods at a local college. I found out later it probably wasn't allowed.......but to be honest with you, I didn't care. I had no where else to put her, and I picked a very remote site, with a beautiful view. Personally, I would just do it where you could. Do you maybe have friends or someone with woods that would allow you to do that? That would be better, since then you could feel better about planting a plant and coming back and checking on it, without getting into trouble.
Sorry I don't have any good ideas for what to plant.
You obviously cared alot about your pet, and I'm sorry for your loss.

karen, i am so very sorry for your loss of Bagel. two years ago our dear beagle Maggie left for the rainbow bridge. Today as I worked outside i kept looking up to check that she was still with me and hadn't moseyed over to the neighbors as she loved to do. Each time i remembered that she is buried in the sunniest spot on our property where she loved to nap in her last years. now she lies in a custom-built wooden box, made by my DH and painted by me, beneath a bed of glorious gladioli (which i was told by many gardeners would not come back in my zone but are back again this year strong and tall as before)in a profusion of warm sunny colors, that reflect her gentle, sunny, happy disposition, reaching up toward heaven. I sometimes feel a warm pressure on my chest that almost feels like maggie's snuggling up close to me as she did every night for 14 years. There are sometimes moments when i can feel the soft coat on the side of neck where i would bury my face for kisses and smell her sweet scent that i always found so comforting.
gladiolus corms and iris tubers multiply in a single season, and both have bloomed for me in less-than-full sun, so maybe one or both would allow you to take pieces of the root and pot themL i hope you find the perfect place, and the perfect plant, to make this special memory spot for you and Bagel.
wishing you comfort and peace,
Robbie

Nothing not native to that area, Best off scouting out a location and burrying the little critter under and existing patch of something on some private land somewere.

What about flower bulbs? Naturalized flower bulbs or roots might spread in an area and you could plant one in every place you go.

Claytonia Virginica

Wild Hyacinth

Virginia Bluebells

I agree with those who suggest not planting Bagel or any plants illegally in a parkland. Sometimes it takes a while to find the perfect place. Good luck.

Thank all of you who have expressed such kind sympathy for Bagel's passing. I am defintely researching any possibilities for his plant to ensure I don't introduce some alien species into the environment. I found a beautiful Aruga reptans ("purple brocade") at a local Home Depot, and I'm checking to see if it grows wild around here too. I really appreciate all your suggestions, and am looking at all of them too. Even ones that may not work for this purpose might end up in a pot in my place, they are so pretty.

Thank you all again, and any more suggestions are definitely welcome!

dont plant anything in a state park.

i am sorry for the loss of your pet. losing a pet is like losing a member of your family.

might i suggest you get your pet creamated. they give you the ashes back in a nice container and you can take the container with you where ever you go.

i bought a nice st. francis of assisi statue and it sets in my yard in memorial to my lost pet.

Ajuga reptans is not native and is very invasive.

However, as many others have pointed out, it is not legal to do either of the things you are planning: bury a pet and introduce a plant to state land.

Do you have any friends or relatives with gardens who would let you bury your pet in their yards?

Hmmmm most of the "woodland" plants don't like to grow in pots.... and alot don't grow from cuttings.... I don't know what you could sow this year that you could take cuttings of later. Maybe lonciera sempervivens? (native)? Did you cremate him? You said he died recently have you buried him anywhere yet? If you cremated him you could put him in a nice urn and take it with you and if you settle permanently you could plant the urn in a garden. Or as mentioned perhaps you could take a cutting of a plant growing near where you bury him.... or seedpods from a nearby plant .....I do wonder about the ethical concerns of burying a pet on something that is not your private property..... Just remember not to strip any natives especially endangered ones..... :)

Thank you so much for all your suggestions and support! I buried Bagel yesterday. After lots of research, I finally just stopped by a native plants nursery near the forest. Bleeding Heart and Columbine beat out Foamflower for looks, all had lovely foliage. But I ended up settling on Hay-scented Fern. It's much more tactile, and somehow seemed much more Bagel the Ferrety - the others seemed too ornamental/fragile or something for his (or my, really) personality. He has an honorary fern now. Think it should be renamed Bagel Fern.

And yes, I did discover upon enquiry at the nursery that really no plant that will survive the winter in the wild can do well in a pot. And that almost no plant will be ready for taking a cutting in less than a couple years after planting. And that few plants take well from seeds. So... I bought two ferns, planted one, and will see if I can keep the other around on balconies, etc., and get a third for my mom's yard where we'll have another memorial. If I can come back in a few years and take a cutting from the wild fern, I'll do that.

So anyway, thank you all again. The strange and unexpected things about all this are that 1) I can see having an interest in gardening now; this from a very non-planty person, and 2) it helped me get more over a bit of a plant phobia caused by a really bad poison ivy run-in last summer.

Thanks.

- Karen

I'm glad things turned out okay Karen. Hmmmm......maybe the more permanent thing you were looking for, has changed from a plant for Bagel, to a new interest, which will be a life-long love of those things like what you planted over Bagel! Now that really would be a wonderful way of honoring Bagel's memory! :)