By: Becky Lowicki, Harris County Master Gardener

“Your mind is a garden, your thoughts are the seeds; 

you can grow flowers or you can grow weeds…” 

2 Corinthians 10:5. 

Rebirth, reflection and renewal. There’s spirituality in the garden and with good reason. Not only a place for perseverance in the face of adversity, the roots of many of today’s plants run deep into biblical history. 

Creating a Bible Garden with plants mentioned in the Bible or cultivated in Biblical times may not make you a saint but it will bring inspiration-the foundation of every garden endeavor. 

What is a Biblical garden? “A display of God’s creation that helps you appreciate the heritage and diversity of plants,” according to Bernice Sanders, Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church Garden Assistant and Ft. Bend County Master Gardener. 

“We read about the miracles of the Bible, however, if we would observe plants, we can see miracles during each season of the year.” 

In the Houston area, the diversity of seasons from feast to famine, or most recently drought to flood, may seem daunting, but there are proven recommendations for creating your own Bible garden. 

WHEELER AVENUE BAPTIST CHURCH BIBLE GARDEN: For example, these plants of the Bible have blessed the gardens at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, 3826 Wheeler Ave. 

In spring, it’s mostly herbs, vegetables and lilies. Summertime brings figs, apples, passion flower, cotton, rue, palms and rose of Sharon. In the fall, look for mustards, pomegranate, cassia, leeks and onions. And in winter, cedar, pine fir and cypress grace the grounds. www.natureswayresources.com 

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FREDERICKSBURG BIBLE GARDEN: At the Bible Garden of Fredericksburg United Methodist Church, springtime yields more bulbs than the eye can behold with more than 200 daffodils and tulips, plus paper whites, hyacinth, anemones and poppies. 

Other plantings during spring include aloe that blooms, iris, daylilies, almond tree, acacia tree, and flowering quince and olive tree, among others. 

In summer, the garden includes mainly vegetables – fava beans, leeks, lettuce, barley, wheat, flax and mustard, along with grapevines, hollyhocks, parsley, fennel, lavender, wormwood, Artemisia mandrake, melons, myrtle and fig. 

The fall plantings include pomegranate, oak, rosemary, terebinth, salvia, cedar of Lebanon and burning bush. 

Click here for a listing of plants of the Bible compiled by Peggy Benson, Fredericksburg United Methodist Church. Click here for a Plants of the Bible article by Jean Fefer, Harris County Master Gardener. 

Green gardening thanks to both Bernice Sanders and Peggy Benson, who provided good dirt for this article.