Dear Gardeners,
Hello from the middle of spring! Though not everyone has cleared their last frost date, most of us are busily buzzing about the garden with hopeful plans abounding.
Will you be adding herbs to your garden this season? And what is your favorite herb? A friend asked me this recently, and I had to say hands down, hyssop! (I hope you aren’t tired of me speaking about hyssop?!) Having the gentle leaves of this perennial that connects the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery at Passover to the deliverance from sin at Jesus’ crucifixion (Exodus 12:22 and John 19:29) is a garden delight—a salvation reminder to be flavored with every day! I love to bring along these fragrant branches whenever I give talks to let audiences taste and see and infuse their senses with a touchpoint of Christ’s forgiveness.
This has been my busiest spring yet, with a weekly talk through Lent for my neighborhood Bible study, and then off to address the Herb Society of America’s Education Conference here in Texas, followed by a whirlwind return to Washington, D.C. to speak in the Biblical Garden at Museum of the Bible and a quick visit to our daughter in New York, enjoying a few more garden views at The Cloisters Gardens and a first visit to The High Line. Whew! Thank you, Lord, for strength and favor as all travel and presentations went well and I got to visit with so many wonderful gardeners.
It was my joy to whisper prayers everywhere I went, in anticipation of the Rededication of America to God on May 17th, 2026. Gardeners, let’s make use of our “knee time,” calling on the Lord as we sow seeds and pull weeds in this active season, in unison with the National Day of Prayer tomorrow, May 7th. Then May 15th marks 50 days until July 4th, 2026, our country’s 250th birthday. The Billy Graham Foundation has organized a prayer movement, with daily prayers from all 50 states, learn more at www.onenationundergod.com . May is a mighty month to pray!
The rest of my spring is filled with precious family milestones—our youngest graduating college, two close friends’ children getting married, and our first grandchild arriving at the start of summer. Yippee! In anticipation of grandmahood, I have moved to a monthly release of the Devotions Blog, bringing you more and more Biblical plants and garden visits on the 4th Thursday of the month.
Enjoy a few snapshots below and find more inspiration in Blurbs & Praises. Happy gardening!
Sincerely,
Shelley S. Cramm
author & gardener
Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. 1 Chronicles 16:23-24 NASB
From the Homeland
Field Trip to San Antonio Botanical Garden, San Antonio, TX
Driving to south Texas last month, I was so excited to return to one of my favorite collections of Biblical plants at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. Both The Zachry Foundation Culinary Garden and the Sacred Garden are overflowing with our age-old rooted friends, dear gardeners! The cook’s section to the right of the entrance displays sweeping plantings of nearly all of the fruits of Deuteronomy 8:8, with pomegranates, figs, and olives near the sloping amphitheater, and grapevines along the back fence. Bay laurels, apricot trees, onions, and artemisia (wormwood) rounded out this taste-and-see-beauty section of the grounds this spring.
Yet the prize was seeing the myrtles trees in the Sacred Garden, after discovering them on my visit 8 years ago. They are thriving despite several unlikely hard freezes in this zone 9 garden since then, and their sparkling greenery is so uplifting! Little flower buds were poised to burst in showy bloom within days. Photos of these large shrubs or small trees have filled my presentations over the years and helped guide artist Layla Luna in her rendering for chapter 14 of My Father is the Gardener.
The Sacred Garden is also planted with pomegranates, grapevine arbors, olives, apricots, and mature Aleppo pines. A willow tree represents the Tree of Life, next to a stone fountain sculpture standing as the River of Life, these Garden of Eden elements represented similarly in the Biblical Garden at Museum of the Bible.
Visit as soon as you can! The Sacred Garden, part of the Heritage Gardens section, is being renovated soon; all will be uprooted and transformed into a meadow garden. Progress for pollinators yet sorry to say goodbye to this unique and reverent refuge.
From the Nightstand
spring stack with more than a hint of herbal infusion
-
Healing Plants from Elizabeth Blackwell’s “Curious Herbal” edited by Marta McDowell (“A Tiny Folio” of Elizabeth Blackwell’s illustration and insight form her work in the 1700’s, a handy, at-a-glimpse overview of heritage plants including 23 Biblical species, for a quick reference and acquaintance. Special note: Blackwell’s cucumber vine is featured inside the cover of My Father is the Gardener)
-
Artemisia, Herb of the Year™ 2014 compiled and edited by Karen O’Brien (a case study publication from the Herb of the Year program of the International Herb Association for a broad and thorough study of wormwood of the Bible; see other in-depth herb books available)
-
Code Red by Wynton Hall (a faith-view of what we need to be aware of entering into the landscape of AI)
-
The Urban Herbal by William Varney (an elegantly illustrated cook book of herbal recipes and inside scoop from one of south Texas’s most hospitable hosts—I got to visit his charming shop, too)
-
The Epic of Eden by Sandra L. Richter (an academic-enlightened-with-humor invitation to explore a rich understanding of the Garden of Eden—best book I have read on the Garden view of Scripture!)
-
The Beauty of Roses by Janice Cox (an engaging workbook with pleasing-to-the-eye pages, offering information and gentle guidance for starting or revitalizing your home rose garden)
Find more in-depth book discussions in Devotions Blog Book Reviews at Garden in Delight
From the Garden
We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. Numbers 11:5 NIV
Onions and garlic have filled our vegetable beds all through the winter…or are they spices? In my recent talk on the herbs and spices of the Bible to the Herb Society of America, I included this flavor duet along with leeks, even though they are often considered vegetable produce. After all, one or all of these ancient plants are first in the line up of flavor ingredients for most savory meals.
The Herb Society featured garlic in its Herb of the Month program in September 2024 (enjoy their Fact Sheet here), so I took the green light to include the story of the Israelites “crying over onions,” from Numbers 11 and chapter 10 of My Father is the Gardener, in my presentation.
Growing these tasty plants is as easy as any gardener can hope for. Plant garlic cloves in fall, and sow onion seeds then, too; or plant onion starts or slips in late winter when the soil is workable again. Cloves and bulbs go to work underground even if green leaves get frozen back. Fertilizing through the spring growing season will increase bulb size, and in summer’s heat ramp-up, it will be time to harvest.
I’ve enjoyed watching these crops grow and waiting for their tasty yield—and added green onion tops to lots of spring salads and roasted vegetables in the meantime. More information on growing leeks, onions, and garlic in your garden is available in the Garden in Delight Plant Guide and see this Instagram post for a silly song to keep chuckling instead of crying!
Blurbs & Praises
Quoted in Martha Stewart Gardening Online
-
many thanks to Samantha Johnson for quoting me in her article at MarthaStewart.com>Gardening>Landscaping “7 Fast-Growing Ferns That Will Fill In Shady Spots in No Time”
Refresh with a Poem
-
Stir your heart with spring’s spicy flavors in a poetic sing-song from the A-to-Z Primer of Plants in God’s Word
National Day of Prayer May 7th
-
Let us be a people united in prayer! May we come together to amplify God’s faithfulness and all the ways He lets us know He is with us, revealing His Glory even in our humble gardens.
Spring Prayer
O Heavenly Father and Holy Creator, thank You, thank You! Thank You for pouring out Your grace in our land. Our gardens are alive with Your activity—with life surging through seedlings and branch tips and flower buds—even the weeds resound Your vibrant energy and adopted charge to increase and fill (Genesis 1:28), mercy me! I love to go outside during the workday to seek You and be immersed for a small moment in your growing, blossoming goodness. The garden has gone before us in this revival movement.
How amazing that our traditional observance in May of the National Day of Prayer has multiplied to three major prayer and praise events in America. May is a month to pray!
With one voice, by the grace and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, may we humble ourselves and pray and seek Your face and turn away from all evil entanglements, praising You for Your faithfulness to hear our prayers and forgive our estrangement and heal our land. Especially as gardeners, we intercede for Your healing of our land, and all the hearts and families therein. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
