Welcome to our LACC Biblical Garden

Contact: Michelle Ayers (530) 258-2843 

The Vision

The vision we have for this garden is for it to be a quiet retreat by using God’s creation as a beautiful reflection of His love for us. 

As one approaches the church on the north side one would be greeted with a bounty of colors and fragrances.  These gardens, which represent our Life in Christ, would be complete with a waterfall – The Living Water – surrounded by the most colorful and fragrant Biblical flowers, representing the joy and blessings of living with Christ.

The garden along the east side of the church, takes one on a journey, which starts at the Stone Table positioned in the Resurrection Garden (a spot to sit, reflect and to have quiet moments with God) it is surrounded by plants like Trumpet vines, Forget-Me-Nots, and Winged Everlasting.

As one follows the path through the garden, to the right one will enjoy the plants in the Old Testament Garden.   Next one will find a garden representing Jesus’ Life, (Baby’s Breath surrounding a Christmas Rose, Jerusalem Sage and Lamb’s Ear, all reflecting Jesus’ life on earth).      

Continuing on, the path turns around a circle of trees and a peaceful bench.  The garden to the right of the path will be filled with Bitter Herbs to represent those used at Passover, and remind us of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  The final garden positioned under the Cross on the church building is that of the Death of Jesus, a garden filled with thorny bushes, roses, Bleeding Hearts, and Lilies. 

Finally, the journey ends back where it all began in the Resurrection Garden.

Q&A

How do we finance this change?

We feel that this is a garden that many will enjoy and that our church family would gladly either make monetary donations or plant donation in order to see this project happen.   Also some of the plants for this project can be transplanted from personal gardens.

How will this garden be watered?

To our knowledge, there is a sprinkler system already in place under all those junipers.  A small drip line would need to be added at the north entrance garden.  Many of the plants we would use, which grow in the dry climate of the Holy Lands, are drought tolerant.

Will the deer eat it all?

Deer and chipmunks are a problem with gardens up here; however, there are methods that have been proven effective.  One is to choose deer resistant plants; many we have chosen are just that.   Also, during growing season we can spray a variety of deer repellents around the garden once a week.  A final method, which has proven to be effective, is a motion sensitive sprinkler, obviously turned off on church days.

Who will take care of this garden?

We believe this would not be hard and actually a great way to gather men, women and even children together on a regular basis to garden.  Our idea is to have a monthly or bi-monthly garden day with a potluck lunch, during the growing season.  All those green thumbs in our church won’t be able to resist.  There are garden clubs all over the country; why not start a Biblical garden club with speakers and everything.  What a great new ministry and potential outreach.

What about the previous attempts that have failed?

There have been attempts at gardening at the north entrance of the church; however, due to lack of a water system, chipmunks, no set plan to maintain it, and several of the plants being annuals, they have all failed.  We will be planting mostly perennials – which come back each year bigger and better, although some annuals would be used to fill space until the perennials grow larger.

Who will oversee the project? Now? In the future?

Currently Michelle, Fay, and Julie are willing to get this project up and running and help it to continue.  We see that this Biblical sanctuary could potentially have a coordinator, as all the other ministries in the church.  The garden coordinator would be in charge of keeping the garden looking great and to organize the LACC Biblical Garden Club.

Does it all have to happen at once?

Of course, we would love to see this all happen at once.  However, we also understand the issues of time and money, so we propose that this be done in two phases.  Phase one can be done this summer and phase two next summer.  

• Phase One would consist of completing the “Life In Christ” and the “Resurrection” gardens.  In addition, we would plant the new trees to give them as early a start as possible.
• Phase Two would complete the project with The “Old Testament”, “Jesus’ Life”, and “Jesus’ Death” gardens next summer.