Planting your pet's ashes in Longmont
About 3,050 dogs and cats are lost in Longmont each year, by our estimate. If you'd like your pet's ashes to grow into a tree or return to the water, this page covers the soil, the season and the cost.
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Longmont, Colorado
Where a living memorial fits in Longmont
Longmont yards range from compact lots in older neighborhoods to larger properties on the edge of town, and memorial choices follow suit. A small stone in a flower bed, a tree planted in a back corner, or an urn on a shelf all fit different homes. If you might move, an indoor memorial or a small keepsake is the easiest to take along.
Longmont sits in a band of the Front Range where hail, heavy wet spring snow and bone-dry August weeks can all arrive in the same year. Outdoor pieces need to shrug that off. Granite and cast bronze age gracefully, while resin figures and glazed garden tiles tend to crack after a few freeze-thaw winters. If a tree urn appeals, an April or May planting and steady watering through two summers give the roots a fair chance.
Families in Longmont often combine a private cremation arranged through their vet with a planting at home a few weeks or months later. That gap is normal and useful. It gives you time to choose a species, prepare the soil mix and wait for the right planting season. Ask the crematory for the ashes in a simple container rather than paying for a decorative urn you won't keep, and put that money toward a good tree.
Longmont is home to about 100,109 people, the 13th-largest of the 36 Colorado communities we cover. Denver, roughly 30 miles off, is the closest larger centre, and a share of the providers who cover Longmont run from there.
Families in Longmont often end up using a provider from Frederick (8 miles), Firestone (8 miles) and Erie (9 miles). That is normal: crematories serve a radius, not a single town, and the drive is priced into collection.
Our estimate
37,000
Estimated dog- or cat-owning households in Longmont
How we calculated this
100,109 ÷ 2.5 = 40,044 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 37,000. A household with several pets counts once.
Our estimate
3,050
Longmont families who lose a dog or cat each year (estimate)
How we calculated this
37,000 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 3,050 a year. Treat it as a minimum.
53%[1]
53% of US households own a dog, which is about 71 million households.
12.69 years[2]
US dogs have an average life expectancy at birth of 12.69 years.
39%[3]
39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households.
11.18 years[4]
US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years.
If a number here surprises you, the primary material is American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science; we only apply it to this.
Cremation habits in Colorado, and what they mean for a bio urn
Scattering gardens and woodland memorials are familiar sights in Colorado, where cremation is the choice for around 77.4%[5] of people who die. Many families already have a place where a grandparent's ashes were scattered. If that place is on land you own or have permission to use, a pet's ashes can join it quietly. Human cemeteries and crematoria grounds are different, and most don't accept animal remains, so ask first.
NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) is where the Colorado figure comes from. It counts people; we use it because attitudes to cremating a pet in Longmont tend to follow attitudes to cremation generally.
Choosing the right month to plant in Longmont
Freezing and thawing through January, February, March, November and December can heave a newly planted tree out of the ground in Longmont. If you plant in autumn, mulch well after the first frost to keep the soil temperature steady, and check the base of the tree in spring. A spring planting avoids the problem entirely and gives roots a full growing season before the next winter.
In places like Longmont, driveways and sidewalks are often salted in January, February, March, November and December. Ashes already add sodium to the soil, and road salt splashed onto the same bed doubles the load. Keep a memorial planting well back from salted paths and the edge of the road, and away from where snow gets piled. A spot uphill from the drive is better than one downhill of it.
What bio urns and aquamation cost in Longmont
For a medium-size dog, published private aquamation prices at two US providers sit around $200–$259[6], and one Arizona provider's individual aquamation price of $75–$349[7] includes an urn, nameplate and ink paw print. Whether a Longmont provider bundles extras like that makes a real difference when you compare. Add the bio urn or tree separately, and use the planner below to see the total.
The full price table by product is on our Colorado page, and the services page explains what each option includes.
Free tool
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Who to ask before you plant or scatter in Colorado
Rules change more often than most people realise, and many local policies about ashes were never written down at all. Treat any general guide for Colorado, including ours, as a starting point. Whoever looks after that particular field, park or shoreline is the one whose answer counts, so it's worth getting it by email where you can.
Colorado keeps an official directory of local governments; use it to reach the county or city office that covers Longmont.
The rules that apply across Colorado (home burial, scattering and who oversees pet cremation) are summarized on our Colorado page. Longmont may add its own conditions, so check with the city or county before digging.
From ashes to a growing tree: the steps
- If the ashes have been on a shelf for years, you can still plant them. Cremated remains don't spoil, so there's no deadline.
- Open the container carefully indoors or out of any breeze, and look to see if there's a sealed inner bag holding the ashes.
- Weigh or measure what you have, then use our urn size calculator to see which planting urn or water urn fits.
- Decide whether to keep any back. Having lived with the ashes so long, plenty of families choose to plant the bulk and hold on to a small amount.
- Pick a date that carries meaning, such as the anniversary or your pet's birthday, and invite anyone who knew them.
- Treat the old urn kindly afterwards. Many people reuse a wooden or ceramic urn as a plant pot or keepsake box.
Keeping your pet's memory growing in Longmont
Longmont's farming roots show in how some families remember animals: a simple wooden marker, a stone from the property, a tree in the yard. Others choose modern keepsakes such as a pendant with a small amount of ashes or a paw print casting. Whatever style appeals, find out roughly what volume of ashes is coming back before ordering an urn, since a large farm animal and a small house pet differ enormously.
try the free planning tools, look through our guides and the blog, or see what other families chose in the poll results, For a plain comparison of the choices, open services. Close to Longmont we also cover Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs and Thornton; the full list for Colorado and for the United States is a click away.
Reader polls
What would you choose?
Vote anonymously and see how other readers answered. The results are live counts from people who visit this site, so they show real opinions, not a scientific sample.
If you rent or might move, how would you handle a memorial planting?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
What kind of tree or plant would you choose?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
If you had to decide today, which aftercare would you choose for your pet?
Tap an answer to vote and see how others answered. Anonymous.
Free tools to help you plan
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
Memorial tree finder
Pick a tree for a planting urn that suits your climate, space and pet.
Aftercare options compared
Compare private, communal and water cremation with burial on cost, timing and what comes home.
Questions people ask
How does Longmont's weather affect pet aftercare?
July is the hottest month in Longmont, with average highs around 88°F, so prompt collection matters most then. Average lows drop below freezing in January, February, March, November and December, which can make digging a grave hard until spring.
Which nearby towns can I compare with Longmont?
The closest communities we cover are Frederick (about 8 miles), Firestone (about 8 miles) and Erie (about 9 miles). Providers based in those places often serve Longmont too. Ask each one for a written total that includes collection, so the distance is priced in.
Will I have to travel to Denver to arrange things?
Not usually. Providers based in Denver (roughly 30 miles from Longmont) collect from here as a matter of routine, and the paperwork is done by email or phone. If you want to be present for a witnessed cremation, that is when the drive matters.
Why does the Longmont page quote a human cremation rate?
Because it is the best local signal we have. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024) reports about 77.4%[5] of Colorado residents are cremated. There is no official pet equivalent, and inventing one would be worse than quoting a real, clearly labelled number.
How many dogs and cats are there in Longmont?
By our estimate, about 37,000 households in Longmont have a dog or a cat, and around 3,050 of those pets die each year. We calculate this from the city's population, average household size and national pet ownership and lifespan figures. The method is shown on this page, and the real number of animals is higher.
How long does it take to get ashes back for planting?
Most private cremations return ashes within one to two weeks, and water cremation cycles themselves take 12–20 hours[9], so allow a similar time. In a smaller place, if the cremation happens in a larger centre such as Denver, it may take a little longer. Planting can wait, so there's no need to rush.
Sources and our estimates
- [1] 53% of US households own a dog, which is about 71 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [2] US dogs have an average life expectancy at birth of 12.69 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [3] 39% of US households own a cat, which is about 53 million households. American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry, 2025.
- [4] US cats seen at Banfield hospitals have an average life expectancy at birth of 11.18 years. Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science - Banfield Pet Hospital life expectancy tables (13.3 million dogs, 2.4 million cats, 2013-2019), 2023.
- [5] The NFDA projected Colorado's cremation rate at 77.4% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] Private aquamation for a 21–50 lb dog costs about $200–$259 at two posted US price lists. Our estimate: Delaware 10–49 lb $200; A Greener Place 21–50 lb $259. How we calculate.
- [7] A Greener Place in Mesa, Arizona, charges $75–$349 for individual pet aquamation by weight, including an urn, nameplate and ink paw print. A Greener Place Pet Aquamation – Pricing, 2026.
- [8] U.S. pet flame cremations emit on the order of 47,000 t CO2e a year. Our estimate: 1.5M pet cremations x 31.3 kg CO2e. How we calculate.
- [9] A PET-550 aquamation cycle takes 12–20 hours for a single pet and 14–20 hours for segregated or communal cycles, with up to 14 compartments. Bio-Response Solutions — PET-550 Aquamation System product page, 2026.
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