Planting your pet's ashes in Bloomingdale
Roughly 690 Bloomingdale families say goodbye to a dog or cat each year, by our count. A living memorial is one way to mark it. This guide explains how to make one that actually grows.
- When to plant in your season
- How much ash your urn must hold
- Aquamation providers in your area
Bloomingdale, Illinois
What an eco memorial looks like in Bloomingdale
Bloomingdale families often mix indoor and outdoor memorials: a small urn in the family room, a stone by the patio, a framed photo on a desk at work. Condo and townhome residents may keep things entirely indoors, which works just as well and moves easily if you relocate. The temporary container from the provider will keep the ashes safe while you think it over.
A memorial doesn't have to be one object. Some Bloomingdale households split the ashes among family members, keep a small amount in a pendant, and plant a flowering shrub in the yard. If you'd like inked paws or a snipped curl of fur, tell the provider at the start, since those can only be done while your pet's body is still with them.
Country land around Bloomingdale gives you options city families don't have, and a few extra things to think about. Keep ash plantings well away from wells, springs and streams, and away from ground where livestock graze or crops are grown. Choose a spot with some shelter from wind for a young tree, and remember that deer and rabbits find new plantings quickly; a simple tree guard or wire cage for the first few years can make all the difference.
With roughly 22,476 residents, Bloomingdale is the 106th-largest of the 151 Illinois communities we cover. Chicago, roughly 24 miles off, is the closest larger centre, and a share of the providers who cover Bloomingdale run from there.
Nearby, we also have local pages for Roselle (2 miles), Glendale Heights (2 miles) and Carol Stream (3 miles), which can help if your vet or the provider you prefer is based there.
Our estimate
8,250
Estimated dog- or cat-owning households in Bloomingdale
How we calculated this
22,476 ÷ 2.5 = 8,990 households; × 53% (dog) + 39% (cat) = 8,250. Homes are counted once however many pets they keep.
Our estimate
690
Bloomingdale families who lose a dog or cat each year (estimate)
How we calculated this
8,250 dog/cat-owning homes ÷ average lifespan (dog: 12.69 yrs + cat: 11.18 yrs) ≈ 690 a year. A floor, not a ceiling.
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.
Sources for the statistics above: American Pet Products Association (APPA) 2025 State of the Industry and Montoya et al. 2023, Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
Cremation, burial and green choices in Illinois
The share of people cremated in Illinois, now about 60.2%[5], keeps inching up. For pet owners, that shift has brought more questions about what to do once the ashes come home. There's no need to decide on the day. Many families keep the ashes for a season, talk about what their pet loved, and only then settle on a tree, a pot or a lake.
Source for the Illinois number: NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage) (2024). Nobody publishes a pet cremation rate for Bloomingdale, so the human figure is the best local signal available.
Bloomingdale seasons and your memorial tree
Freezing and thawing through January, February, March and December can heave a newly planted tree out of the ground in Bloomingdale. 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.
Water releases need open water, and in Bloomingdale lakes and ponds may ice over around January. Never walk out onto ice to release an urn. If a lake or river was your pet's place, plan the release for spring or summer, when the shoreline is safe and a water-soluble urn can float and dissolve as it's meant to. Keep the ashes at home until then.
Price ranges for planting and water urns
It helps to compare a planted memorial with the alternatives. A pet cemetery burial for a dog averages about $831[6] in the US, which by our estimate is around 3.2 times the national average for private cremation[7]. Private cremation plus a bio urn and a sapling in your own Bloomingdale garden usually comes in far below a cemetery plot, and there are no yearly maintenance fees.
For a line-by-line price table, see the Illinois overview; for what's included in each option, see our services.
Free tool
Memorial budget planner
Add up cremation, urn, keepsakes and a farewell so the total holds no surprises.
What Illinois allows for ashes, in general terms
Rules about ashes were mostly written for people, and pet ashes often sit in a grey area. That's a reason to ask, not a reason to assume. On land you own, planting or burying ashes is generally fine. Anywhere else in Illinois, from parks to beaches to a friend's field, the land manager or owner decides, so ask first.
The official Illinois local government directory lists every county and city office, which is the quickest way to find who to ask in Bloomingdale.
We keep Illinois's burial and scattering rules in one place: the Illinois rules summary. Before a home burial in Bloomingdale, also ask the city whether local ordinances add anything.
From ashes to a growing tree: the steps
- Confirm the ashes will come back. With a communal cremation there's normally nothing to collect afterwards, which leaves you with nothing to put in an urn.
- Pick the type of bio urn: a planting urn for a tree, a plain burial urn for a garden corner, a water urn for a lake or the sea.
- Ask permission before using ground you don't own, whether that's a landlord, a farmer or whoever runs the park.
- Plan for the weather. Around Bloomingdale, skip days when the soil is rock-hard, frozen or sodden, and wait for still, gentle conditions to plant or release.
- Release gently on water. Rest the urn on the surface, leave it to drift and go under in its own time, and scatter only a few loose petals.
- Come back in a year. Top up the mulch, see how much the tree has put on, and photograph it to record the first anniversary.
Remembering your pet, in Bloomingdale and wherever you go next
Anything placed outside in DuPage County has to survive several months of freezing and thawing, plus the occasional heavy snow and a lot of road salt near driveways. Granite and bronze cope with that; cast concrete and resin usually don't last many winters. Set a flat marker level with the soil so the snow shovel and lawn mower pass right over it without catching an edge.
there are guides for the big decisions and articles for the details, or see what other families chose in the poll results, use the free tools before you ring anyone, See what each option includes on our services page. More local pages: Chicago, Naperville, Joliet and Aurora, the Illinois overview and every city in the United States.
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.
If water cremation (aquamation) were offered near you, would you choose it?
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
Can a provider from a neighbouring town collect from Bloomingdale?
Usually yes. Roselle is about 2 miles away, Glendale Heights is about 2 miles away and Carol Stream is about 3 miles away, all inside a normal collection radius. Get the mileage written into the quote so there is no surprise on the day.
Where are the providers that serve Bloomingdale actually based?
Some are local, and some run from Chicago, about 24 miles away. That is normal for a town this size. What matters is the collection time they quote for Bloomingdale and whether the drive is priced into the total, so ask both up front.
How many pet owners live in Bloomingdale?
By our estimate, about 8,250 households in Bloomingdale have at least one dog or cat, and around 690 are lost each year. We calculate this from the city's population of about 22,476, the average household size and national ownership and lifespan figures, so treat it as a floor rather than an exact count.
Why does the Bloomingdale 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 60.2%[5] of Illinois residents are cremated. There is no official pet equivalent, and inventing one would be worse than quoting a real, clearly labelled number.
What happens to the memorial tree if I move away from Bloomingdale?
It stays with the land, and ashes mixed into soil can't be recovered. If a move is possible, plant in a large container, plant at a relative's home, or keep a small portion of the ashes back for a future garden. Cuttings from many shrubs root easily, so you can take a piece of the plant with you.
Can I bury pet ashes on a farm or rural land near Bloomingdale?
On land you own, burying ashes is generally allowed. Keep the planting well away from wells, springs and streams, and away from ground where livestock graze or crops are grown. On someone else's land, including family land, ask the owner first and agree that the memorial can stay if the land changes hands.
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 Illinois's cremation rate at 60.2% for 2024. NFDA 2024 Cremation & Burial Report state projections (via Occasional Sage), 2024.
- [6] CareCredit's 2025 cost study put the US national average for pet cemetery burial of a dog at $831 (range $659-$1,513). CareCredit (Synchrony) - How Much Does It Cost To Euthanize a Dog? (2025 ASQ360 procedural cost study), 2025.
- [7] US pet cemetery burial for a dog costs about 3.2x a private cremation ($831 vs $260 national averages). Our estimate: 831 / 260 = 3.20. How we calculate.
- [8] Switching one human-scale cremation to alkaline hydrolysis saves about 112 kg CO2e under TNO's accounting. Our estimate: 79.9 - (-31.8) kg CO2e. How we calculate.
Ask about aquamation near Bloomingdale
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