Planting Underway on Flight 93 Garden

The Portland, Oregon-based non-profit Remember Me Roses announced its capital campaign to finish a garden dedicated to the passengers and crew of Flight 93. The competed garden will be located on a 14 acre plot donated by the Families of Flight 93 adjacent to the Flight 93 National Memorial Park; 2,982 rose bushes will be planted, one for each victim of the September 11th attacks, in the garden along with individual spaces dedicated to each passenger.

Clay Mankamyer, Vice President of the Flight 93 Garden, says Sue Casey and Michael Mitchell came up with the idea.

Sue Casey founded Remember Me Roses in the wake of the September 11th attacks as a way of paying tribute to those who died.and has since worked to plant gardens in Washington D.C., New York City, and Shanksville.

Michael Mitchell is a New Jersey/New York Area professional gardener. According to Mankaymer, Mitchell "was stranded on one of the bridges leading out of the city (on September 11th) and watched the collapse of the Twin Towers. And he just felt that he needed to be involved in some way to help with the recovery and the healing of the nation, and paying tribute to those who lost their lives." Mitchell used his experience as a professional gardener to oversee the development of the gardens.

Mankaymer says they have already started work on the property by clearing the land and planting roses and hedgerows. He says that once the garden is finished it will be shaped like a compass rose.