It costs a lot of money for the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Cemetery District to maintain the 11 cemeteries under its jurisdiction, according to district trustee treasurer John “Jolly” Arsenault.

Some of us are adding to that financial burden by breaking the rules, which say “no live or artificial trees, shrubs, bushes, hedges or plants shall be placed, planted or maintained” on the lot.

Cemetery deeds also give the trustees the authority to remove them at the district’s discretion.

It costs money to correct problems created by well-meaning family members. The roots of shrubs, trees and plants spread, tipping over stones — often those on neighboring plots. These illegal plantings also create headaches for those responsible for mowing our cemeteries.

Most of us here on the peninsula would agree that our cemeteries are kept in A-1 condition.

Unless you’re not paying attention, you’ve traveled past cemeteries in other communities and shook your head in disbelief at the apparent neglect. We’re lucky that our cemeteries proudly send the message to passersby, “The community cares.”

Just the past couple of years, the cemetery district trustees washed the stones in Hillside and Wylie cemeteries on the Boothbay/Boothbay Harbor town line on Route 27. The results were very impressive.

They also spent big bucks to have several large trees removed at Wylie. If you’ve ever priced having a tree cut down on your own property, you know it can cost a couple of thousand dollars just for one tree. Thousands has also been spent at Evergreen removing trees, plants and shrubs, and Ocean View, across from the golf course, has a lot of large trees that have been growing for years and need to come down.

At Kenniston Cemetery, adjacent to the Clifford Playground at Boothbay Center, the district has worked hard to straighten many of the stones which have tilted over the years, and to grade old lots that have caved in. Kenniston is either the oldest, or one of the oldest, cemeteries here on the peninsula.

The bottom line is this: Well-meaning family members plant trees and shrubs trying to make their loved one’s cemetery lot more attractive, but they don’t realize the problems they are creating.

Unfortunately, some of those responsible for the plantings are no longer living in the area and often never see that a shrub or tree has become a nuisance. Well-intentioned folks are also guilty of placing artificial flowers on graves. They are often unaware that they are only allowed to remain from Nov. 1 to March 31.

That’s already a stretch of the rules that say none whatsoever, but the district allows it, according to trustee Stanley “Swing” Lewis, who has been overseeing local cemeteries for more years than most of us here in the region can remember.

Artificial flowers don’t last for months; they soon become faded, torn or downright ugly. We might add that in our opinion, even when they’re new, they seem inappropriate, and are often placed there by family members who may not return to the cemetery lot for months — maybe never!

Let’s give the cemetery district trustees a break, folks, and follow the rules by removing trees, shrubs and plants, as well as outdated artificial flowers ourselves rather than waiting for our cemetery caretakers to do it for us.

They’re doing their part to keep our cemeteries in pristine condition, so let’s do our part.