Memorial Day is Monday, May 25. If you live on the Peninsula — San Carlos, Belmont, Redwood City, San Mateo, or anywhere between SFO and Palo Alto — you are five to fifteen minutes from Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno. Over 160,000 veterans and their families are buried there on a hillside overlooking the Bay.
On Memorial Day weekend, thousands of families visit. Volunteers place flags at every headstone. The rows of white markers stretching across green grass under California sun is one of the most quietly powerful things you will ever see.
If you are going this weekend, or sending flowers to someone who served, here is what to know.
🌺 What Golden Gate National Cemetery Allows
National cemeteries have specific rules about floral decorations:
- Fresh-cut flowers are always welcome and may be placed on or near the headstone
- Arrangements in temporary containers (plastic, metal) are permitted
- Glass vases are prohibited — breakage hazard for maintenance crews
- Artificial flowers are permitted around holidays and will be removed after a reasonable period
- No items pushed into the ground, no permanent plantings, no food or drink left behind
The ideal tribute: a fresh arrangement in a low, weighted plastic container that will not blow over in the San Bruno wind. That is exactly what we build.
🇺🇸 The Red, White, and Blue Palette
Our most requested Memorial Day design — the patriotic tribute built with real flowers:
- Red: Roses, carnations, gerbera daisies, gladiolus
- White: Roses, carnations, stock, chrysanthemums, lilies
- Blue: Delphinium (the richest true blue available), hydrangea, iris, blue thistle
Peninsula Memorial Day weather is usually mid-60s to low 70s with coastal fog in the morning and sun by afternoon. Flowers last longer here than in the inland valleys — your cemetery arrangement should look beautiful through Tuesday or Wednesday.
🌿 Flowers That Last Outdoors on the Peninsula
- Carnations: Indestructible. Days in sun without water and still holding color. The workhorse of cemetery flowers.
- Chrysanthemums: Hardy, traditional, graceful. A remembrance flower across many cultures.
- Stock: Fragrant, sturdy, and beautiful in white. Adds softness to a patriotic arrangement.
- Gladiolus: Tall and dramatic. Red gladiolus at a veteran’s headstone makes a statement.
- Alstroemeria: Underrated for cemetery use — incredibly long-lasting and available in red, white, and purple.
💬 When You Cannot Make the Drive
Maybe the grave is across the country. Maybe you are remembering someone whose ashes were scattered in the ocean. Maybe the person you want to honor is still alive — a veteran carrying invisible weight.
Memorial Day flowers do not require a cemetery:
- Send to a veteran: A simple arrangement and a card: “Thank you for what you gave. I remember.”
- Send to a Gold Star family: They lost someone in service. This is their hardest holiday. Show up with flowers or have them delivered.
- Put flowers on your own table: A private memorial. No audience needed. You know who they are for.
⏰ Order Timing
Memorial Day is our third busiest flower holiday. Blue flowers (delphinium especially) are limited and sell out. Order by Thursday, May 22 for guaranteed red-white-blue designs. Same-day delivery available through the weekend but color options narrow as supply diminishes.
Walk-ins welcome all weekend — we will have grab-and-go cemetery bouquets and ready-made patriotic tributes.
🌿 The Bottom Line
Golden Gate National Cemetery is not a sad place on Memorial Day. It is full of families, children, flags, flowers, and the kind of gratitude that shows up in person. If you have someone there — go. Bring flowers. If you do not have someone there — go anyway, at least once. It will change how you think about Monday.
This is what the day is for. 🇺🇸
Browse our arrangements and sympathy flowers. Same-day delivery across San Carlos, Redwood City, Belmont, San Mateo, Menlo Park, and the Peninsula. Memorial Day is Monday, May 25.