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St. Peter's Episcopal Church

St. Peter's Prayer and Memorial Garden

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The Prayer Garden at St. Peter’s
            St. Peter’s has begun the long process of landscaping the grounds of our new building.  Bishop John has called together a Gardening Committee, chaired by Lanny Wenthe and Margaret Reimer, and employing the talents of some of the congregation’s avid gardeners. The committee is charged with the task of planning our Prayer and Memorial Garden, as well as general landscaping issues.  This project will not come together overnight, and as many of you know, a garden is something that is a long-term, organic mission.  The committee may be charged with planning the project, but welcomes both the input and the volunteer muscles of anyone who would like to participate.  In order to save money, which is much more appropriately spent on outreach to the community, the garden will be relying heavily on your generosity of time and talent.

 Central to the concept of the Prayer Gardens at St. Peter’s is a desire to continue the simple, rural feel of the church.  Our gardens will be rustic in nature, with an emphasis on native plants, texture, color, and fragrance.  The gardens will be both memorial in nature (see the church office for information on the burial of ashes here) and contemplative.  We hope that everyone will feel free to walk the pathways and commune with God in the glories of His natural world.  The committee wants the natural landscape to attract birds and butterflies, children and families, the sorrowing and the joyful.

There are two aspects of the garden that will be addressed in this first year.  Plantings around the gas tank to the north of the church driveway have already begun.  The stone Celtic cross that has been donated in memory of John Kobruck will be installed in August of 2008 in the area southeast of the sanctuary.  This area will be the focus of the Memorial Garden, where ashes will be interred.  A work party in September will create the woodchip pathways from the parking area to the cross.  The initial plantings around the cross will begin this fall and will be completed in the spring of 2009.  In the spring of 2009 we hope to be able to install some granite benches that have been generously donated to the project.   Before the Turkey Supper the Committee plans to have a compost bin established, so we can return to the soil all the coffee grounds, kitchen waste, and garden cuttings.  We hope to plant a profusion of daffodils this fall, providing for some early spring color next season and for years to come.

            Eventually, the Gardening Committee will prepare plans for landscaping the foundation of the building and for a large, cottage style garden between the east side of the building and Rt. 93.  In addition, the Committee will assist the Sunday School in planning a Children’s Garden on the west side of the parking area.  The gardens will be simple affairs, with curving pathways, and with structural details provided by plant materials, like small trees and shrubs, rather than by extensive stone work.  The hope is that we can minimize the areas of “lawn” around the building, helping to cut down on the need for maintenance as well as the need for pesticides and fertilizers. 
With the need for further donations in mind, a list of plant materials we would could use follows.   The garden can use divisions of plants from your garden either now or in the spring.  We cannot accept hostas (too many deer frequent the property) and would prefer to have low-maintenance plants (things that don’t need extensive staking, pruning, or that attract bugs or fungus infections or that are wildly invasive).  If you feel called to this effort to beautify the church grounds, please call the office 647-8549.  Lanny and Margaret will be glad to help put you to work, receive appropriate plant donation and listen to your suggestion.

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