Flemish soil to be used for commemmorative gardens in allied countries

Canada has unveiled plans to plant a Flanders’ Field Memorial Garden using soil from the various World War I battlefields in Flanders. The UK, France, New-Zeeland and India, who also fought alongside Flanders, have launched similar initiatives. These gardens must keep the atrocities of war vivid. Judging from the very positive reactions the Flemish proposal has touched the right chord: “I see the gardens as a gift to the countries who fought on our side. They lost tens of thousands of their men,” says Bruges landscape architect Piet Blanckaert. Together with Nic Vandermarliere, former Flemish Government representative in London who is now stationed in Paris, he was the brain behind the concept. In the UK plans are already underway to plant the first garden near Buckingham Palace in the English capital during the commemorative year of the Great War next year. Plans are also well advanced in France, where the garden will be laid out near the Dôme des Invalides in Paris. The Flemish Government is currently in talks with New-Zeeland, and India has also shown interest. “Relatively speaking New-Zeeland had the most casualties, with almost an entire generation wiped out,” explains secretary-general of the Flemish Department of Foreign Affairs, Koen Verlaeckt. The idea of a garden in Canada took seed during Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters’ CD&V visit to Montréal last week, and it now seems a number of other Flemish allies will follow suit. A large number of bags with sand from the various battlefields and cemeteries where the fallen are buried will be transported to the various sites. The inauguration of the Flanders Field Memorial Garden in London planned for Armistice Day next year will be attended by members of both the British and Belgian royal families.