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Bible Gardens for Christians

© Kirk Johnson

Bible gardens are collections of plants which are mentioned in the Bible, and as John Stokes points out in his article Bible Gardens Revisited, "Due to the limited number of such plants which can be positively identified botanically from their biblical names and descriptions, and of these the still less which are suited for garden cultivation in other climates, these gardens often serve more as collections of Holy Land plants than as gardens quickening visitors to comprehensive reflection on biblical meanings."

John writes for the Mary's Gardens website, and he feels that "the most meaningful Bible Gardens are those composed of suitable plants of the Holy Land and together with those given biblical names, symbolism or meanings in other regions - with resulting greater spiritual richness and horticultural variety." I agree with John, the main purpose of a Bible garden is for the plants to remind you of passages in the Bible. If Amaranthus tricolor reminds you of Joseph's coat of many colors, it belongs in your Bible garden, even though it is native to the Far East.

At the bottom of this article you will find links to a number of webpages about plants which are mentioned in the Bible. I am not going to focus on those plants in this article, instead I will focus on the problem of how to create a garden for Christians to meditate in. How do you create the atmosphere of a chapel in a garden devoted to "Bible plants"?

Last year I wrote an article for Passover about Jewish Bible gardens. There are only a few plants which are mentioned in the New Testament and not in the Old Testament, so the difference between a Jewish Bible garden and a Christian Bible garden is in the design of the gardens, not the plants which are grown in them.

Many Bible Gardens feature planting beds in the form of a cross; this design will be meaningful to any Christian and can be an attractive focal point in a formal garden. Formal Bible gardens can be surrounded by a pergola; this will remind people of a Medieval cloister garden and most Christians should find such an atmosphere very conducive to meditation.

I think that all but the smallest of Christian Bible gardens should have a lifesized wooden cross erected in a prominent location. Wooden crosses are easy to construct and they will provoke deep thoughts in any Christian. Religious statues and bas reliefs will be appropriate for a Roman Catholic Bible garden, but they might offend some Protestants. The symbols of a fish, lamb, and dove aren't likely to offend Protestants, but they probably won't evoke deep thoughts or feelings in most Christians.

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