My Dear Gardeners,
Happy Summer! Just checking in during this dynamic season and hoping you are well. We still have several weeks left before autumn tempers our garden work, though these August back-to-school weeks bring some of summer’s star activities from boiling to simmer…
This view of our vitex tree seems somehow timely. Late spring, and another flush midsummer, covers the canopy in pleasant purple flowers, yet the yield of berry-studded seedheads that follows have their own subtle, summer-toned beauty. Vitex, or chaste tree, Vitex angus-castus, is native to the Mediterranean, and researchers at Neot Kedumim in Israel speculate that it could have been a “branches of thick trees” species (Nehemiah 8:15). It grows among willows in the Jordan River thickets and is conversely content in low-water landscapes, a water-savvy wonder. I love this tree for the vitality it brings to our back fence—a perpetual parade of bees, birds, and butterflies.
I didn’t plant much this summer, relying mostly on such perennial performers to play a starring role in our garden views. Instead, I got to travel; it’s been a total turnaround from spring’s surgery and sofa time! I made the rounds to several favorite Biblical gardens and gardens with Biblical plants—back to Denver Botanic’s Scripture Garden and Museum of the Bible Biblical Garden, venturing to the National Herb Garden and the U.S. National Arboretum, and my new favorite, Plants of the Bible Conservatory.
I can hardly believe I just typed such a list, seen all in one summer! The Lord lined it all up for me, and I am more convinced than ever that waiting upon Him, holding His Words dear, is the best way to live. Through our seasons of pause, redirect, or wander, He revives, He renews, He grows and beautifies. That’s our God!
Enjoy a few snapshots below and may the remaining summer bee-full of His goodness for you. Thank you for joining me in this remarkably endearing garden adventure.
Sincerely,
Shelley S. Cramm
author & gardener
God will continually revitalize you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:13 TPT
From the Homeland
Field Trip to Museum of Biblical Art Via Dolorosa Sculpture Garden
Among my summer garden travels, a highlight has been returning to the best-kept secret here at home in the Dallas area, the Museum of Biblical Art. In addition to an intriguing art collection indoors, the outdoor display on the Museum’s north side engages visitors with gripping statuary by sculptor Gib Singleton, depicting Christ’s harrowing way along the Via Dolorosa.
The garden opened in 2015, and the Museum has implemented a new five-year plan to transform the garden beds with plants of the Bible, hallelujah! The Dallas County Master Gardener Association provides support for the project and held their monthly June meeting there, with a huge attendance of nearly 100 members. Master Gardener Jan Wier leads the effort, gathering volunteers from fellow members and plant donations from their gardens. Students from Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas provide the manpower for weeding, planting, mulching, weeding…giving the Master Gardeners opportunity to train up the next generation in gardening.
Original fig trees and pomegranates are now accompanied by papyrus, rue, wormwood; and Wier works what she terms “Biblical concepts” into the landscape through native plants such as rock rose (Genesis 43:11), and other heat-strong species like sea oats (Proverbs 25:7) and lamb’s ear, for the Lamb of God (John 1:29).
The crescendo of the garden is the Savior on the cross, surrounded by autumn sage, as a remembrance of the salvia-inspired menorah, and Texas Star hibiscus, a gesture to He who made the stars (Genesis 1:16) and the star in the east announcing the Christ-king’s birth (Matthew 2:2), both planted in vivid red colors for the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 12:24).
From the Nightstand
Summer gardening goes hand-in-hand with summer reading
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Interesting Enough by Laura Joy Lloyd (a delightful novel that draws you right into the charming antics of a cast of characters in the Pacific Northwest landscape—I can hardly put it down!)
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Of Naked Ladies and Forget-Me-Nots by Allan M. Armitage (after my great joy of touring summer gardens with Dr. A at Cultivate’25, I had to read more of his endearing plant stories. Catch his take on yet another peculiar name for star of Bethlehem flowers, though a little friendlier than “dove’s dung!”)
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Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls by John Bergsma (dig deep into the faith-growing story of the scrolls as they tour America this year, on display at the Museum of the Bible beginning in November)
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The Nature of Rest by Eryn Lynum (for those of you who like “fauna” to go with your “flora,” a special study welcoming a Sabbath pace and the wonder of God’s creation)
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The Intimate Stranger by Tyler Staton (get to know Holy Spirit all over again in this insightful book by a Portland pastor)
Find more in-depth book discussions in Devotions Blog Book Reviews at Garden in Delight
From the Garden
Let castor bean color your summer garden Jonah 4:6
Though I kept new plants to a minimum this summer, how excitedly I envisioned castor bean, Ricinus communis, growing up through our summertime asparagus forest to tower over misty fronds with gorgeous red pom-pom inflorescence and stalks. These colorful, tall shrubs flourish in gardens across the country, and after writing about them last summer in Cast Away Cares with Castor Bean Plants, I longed for my own showy planting this year. They were to be a garden focal point…but garden design can be glitchy. What should have been 4-to-7-foot stalks by now are stunted at barely 2 feet.
As it turns out, this bed has too much dappled light through the dog days, and my hoped-for dramatic interest would leave Jonah without much relief (Jonah 4:6)! Notice the lack of proper sunlight also stifled the red-to-purple hues that normally set the plant apart from other garden greenery. O well, another story for garden goofs. No worries, I’ve chosen a sunny spot for next year, marveling at how the garden always leads us forward, noticing that every disaster contains creative inspiration and courage to try again!
Blurbs & Praises
2025 Silver Laurel Media Award for Writing>Blog
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ICYMI: Garden in Delight Devotions Blog won a GardenComm Silver Laurel Media Award for Writing>Blog, announced this summer at our Cultivate ‘25 gathering. I am very grateful for this praise and opportunity to showcase faith+gardening in the greater green industry. Congratulations to all the winners!
Refresh with a Poem
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supplement summer, sculptures, stories, scrolls, Sabbath, Spirit, and shade with a sing-song look at the letter ‘S’ from the A-to-Z Primer of Plants in God’s Word
Summer into Fall from the Devotions Blog
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ready to start your fall garden with plants of the Bible? Let these Devotions Blogs inspire you: Bitter Herbs Blitz, Sow What? in Seedtime and Harvest, Must Have Mustards, Growing Barley
Summer Prayer
O Lord, thank you for the blessings You put in our lives, shown in summer’s vitality; flowers abounding, cucumbers coming in, fruit trees full and bursting, name just a few ways Your abundant life shouts for joy around us. Even as we are stimulated by longer, light-filled days, celebrated in barbeques, beach parties, garden gatherings, and outdoor games to play, let us remember we are summoned to enter your rest (Hebrews 4:3, 9). The sum of this activity can still be accommodated in Your Sabbath rhythm, O great possibility God! Teach me to be still—bee still— and always guarding Your sweet harmony. Let me be Your guard-ener (1 Corinthians 14:33). The peace I sense in the garden with You, even as plants are growing outrageously (or not!)…let me bring this to my people—Your people—family, friends, and neighbors surrounding me. Thank You for Your wise, tender care and for entwining my heart with Yours. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.
