My Dear Gardeners,
Season’s greetings! Showering you in God’s very best as your spring gardens unfold and flourish. I had to send along this snapshot as I am sure in this mass of garden confusion there is a metaphor here somewhere!
I started this bed just as I sent out Winter News, sowing seeds of snow peas and purple carrots. However, they have been delightfully deluged by reseeding poppies and arugula grown last spring. “Sow” much for my plans, LOL! As my garden bed has been redirected to overflow in this luxurious mess, may I be as cheery in adapting to any changing plans—Lord, You remind me to trust You! The garden is always resounding God’s ways.
I hope you caught the Garden in Delight Lenten series this spring, A Lenten Look at Bread. The devotions consider all garden aspects relating to this staple metaphor, from barley and wheat to coriander and carob. I appreciate the chance to rewrite this series from the beginning years of my blog, coming back around to the joy of weekly homemade bread to go with homegrown goodness.
As a reminder, the Series of 7 Studies, focusing on prominent garden themes of Scripture and written in Lenten seasons, can be enjoyed at Garden in Delight anytime from the “Potting Bench” drop-down menu, ready whenever you want to dig in and linger in a certain garden aspect of God’s Word.
This season has been an unplanned pause for healing for my husband and me, shown below in our sofa “field trip.” Though we have had a sweet embrace of slow pace, I am looking forward to another getaway adventure with GardenComm this summer, gathering at Cultivate in Columbus, OH in July. This epic trade show for the green industry is leading me to a side trip to see the Plants of the Bible Conservatory at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY. Have you been there? If you are in the area and want to join me, write to me at shelleycramm@gardenindelight.com.
As always, I am so grateful to you for reading along as you grow faith in your garden. May your spring blossom with joy!
Sincerely,
Shelley S. Cramm
author & gardener
In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” Isaiah 25:9 NIV
From the Homeland
Field Trip to Family Sofa
No gardens visited in our season of healing…in the Lord’s way of subtle humor, both Topher and I had knee injuries requiring surgery this spring. Talk about family unity! We end each afternoon and again in the evening plopped on the couch with ice packs to ease swelling. We are grateful to all of you who have covered us in prayer and hopeful for a comeback to play in gardens and tennis courts next season.
I’m sure we are not the only ones with ailments or illnesses this spring, so let us all find courage in the wonderful Words of Hebrews, from The Passion Translation: And strengthen weak knees, for as you keep walking forward on God’s paths all your stumbling ways will be divinely healed! Hebrews 12:12 Thank you, Lord, for this all-encompassing promise!
From the Nightstand
Spring into reading when rains keep you from gardening
-
In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park (a gripping autobiography revealing a modern-day nation of people lacking even their daily bread; see the author’s thought-provoking Instagram post here on flowers and freedom)
-
Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien (dig deeper through our layers of cultural clutter to gain a clearer view of God’s Word—the authors have great insight on metaphor in the Bible)
And few titles to pair with my spring blog series A Lenten Look at Bread:
-
Gardening with Grains by Brie Arthur (circle back with me to this hands-on, helpful landscaping guide for growing grains in the garden)
-
Beard on Bread by James Beard (inspiration for several recipes with Biblical ingredients along with this iconic chef’s wit and wisdom; keep an eye out for this 1970’s classic at estate sales!)
-
Bread of Life by Abigail Dodds (a tasty, elegant and heartfelt devotion if you are ever-amazed at God’s genuine desire to be with us in the everyday)
Find more in-depth book discussions in Devotions Blog Book Reviews at Garden in Delight
From the Garden
Plant sweet alyssum with your mustard seeds Luke 13:19
Cheery sweet alyssum flowers form an eye-catching border for mustard greens—it’s no wonder, since this cool season bloomer is from the same plant family, formerly Crucifereae and now named Brassicaceae. Sweet alyssum grows fairly well from seed like its Biblical cousin, mustard. However, since our cool Texas spring moves swiftly to sultry summer temperatures (usually, but not this year!), I transplant the dainty blooms from 4” pots to enjoy their impact right away before they fizzle in the heat.
Their tufted forms sprawl to infill among neighboring plants with little hesitation, resulting in a lush, vibrant spring bed. If you stop and smell the alyssum, notice that every pinpoint flower has the four nano-petals marking its mustard family identity, so that your whole bed blooms and confirms Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23), proclaiming the song of spring.
Read more about mustard in the Garden in Delight Plant Guide:
Blurbs & Praises
Book Review in The Daily Times
-
many thanks to author Pamela Baxter for her thoughtful, in-depth interview and book review, “From the Ground Up: Book brings plants of the Bible and God’s word to life,” in The Daily Times, an online news source from Delaware County, PA
Refresh with a Poem
-
maybe your spring has gone sideways, too, with injury or an endless battle with weeds? Fight back with humor and courage from the A-to-Z Primer of Plants in God’s Word
Quoted in Martha Stewart Gardening Online
-
many thanks again to Samantha Johnson for quoting me in her savvy spring article at MarthaStewart.com>Garden>Flower Gardens “11 Longest-Blooming Flowers to Keep Your Garden in Color All Season” (yes, I recommended sweet alyssum!)
Spring Prayer
O Father, even as You established the constancy of seasons, You anticipated all the forces and pulses that would come along to change things up. No two springs seem quite the same, but thank You for being faithful and unchanging. Thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to usher the way to be restored to You and get to know You. May we rest in shiftings and siftings because of You: To know You is forever better that knowing answers or anything we think we need to know. You are the Lord and Your Spirit dispatched to us gives us knowledge (Isaiah 11:2) and peace beyond understanding (Philippians 4:7). Let my garden teach me Your ways and endear me to Your Words. And please sow what You know that I need—maybe more flowers among the vegetables! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
