Mountain Laurel: Planting With Care

I suppose that planting a Mountain Laurel ('Kalmia latifolia') should be similar to putting any other shrub in the ground. With care, I selected the site in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden, prepared the ground, removed and replaced the soil, installed a drainage system, placed the plant in the ground, watered it, and covered the soil with mulch. But that is only part of the story.

In July of this year, I wrote a blog article entitled Becky Lynn Daylily and Mountain Laurel: Pictures of God's Restorative Process. I stated in that article:
My first daughter's name is Laurel; I named her after the soft-pink Mountain Laurel, the state flower of Pennsylvania. On many occasions I told young Laurel how that plant is the prettiest flower in the whole wide world. Of course there are many gorgeous flowers in the world and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But that is how she was to me when she was born, the prettiest little girl in the whole wide world. For some reason, I have not been able to locate a Mountain Laurel to plant in that garden – possibly there continues to be a spiritual blockage that is yet unresolved.

Mountain Laurel Kalmia latifolia from www.statesymbolsusa.org

That article was about my two adult daughters that have been estranged from me for far too long.

The Abiding Love Prayer Room in the garden had been carefully redesigned in May to accommodate the Mountain Laurel: adjacent to the gorgeous 'Bonica' roses. To me, this prayer room is often an encounter with Christ's agape love; it symbolically states my love for Laurel.

I recently found this well-grown plant specimen at a wholesale nursery – I was overjoyed because repeated phone calls and conversations in June and July indicated I may not be able to find one in Central New York. I was hopeful because that meant to me that possibly the spiritual blockage was being removed.

I have learned to check the internet before planting to see what others recommend about growing plants that I have not grown before. One very good site is the Missouri Botanical Garden: Kalmia Latifolia. From this, I knew that the native heavy clay soil had to be removed and replaced. We have a large area where two truckloads of sand had covered a difficult area, so I knew I could use that as a resource. I wanted the best growing conditions for this little gem.

The Mountain Laurel blooms in May; autumn's beauty is the bright shiny leaves on this two-foot round shrub.

It took me two days to plant what would normally take just a few hours – the many recollections of our wonderful times together were both thrilling to recall but left me pondering, "What should I have done better?" Realistically there may be no true answer to the many diverse thoughts for those times are now gone. I made many, many mistakes and I had really spoiled that little girl for she was so very special to me.

As I sat on the bench near the new plant location, I realized once again that the time of restoration of our relationship may soon be at hand. What is God doing? What is Laurel doing? Does she have children? Is she still married and, if so, how is that marriage going? Is she happy? Is she sad? What does she look like?

Harry Chapin's song The Cat's in the Cradle has been running through my mind for the last six or seven days. "And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me, he'd grown up just like me, my boy was just like me." What is she like? Is she in some way like me? I wonder.

No one has said anything to me, but I believe this restoration will happen very soon.

Becky Lynn Daylily: A Picture of God's Restorative Process

This is a true story, a story of hope and a story of how our loving God restores what the devil has taken. It is a story about my two adult daughters that have been estranged from me for far too long. It is a story about love.

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NOTE from October 22, 2014: See Becky Lynn Daylily: A Sequel for a follow-up article.
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Daylily 'Becky Lynn'

This daylily is named 'Becky Lynn'; the flower was named several years before my second daughter was born. Her married name is Becky Lynn Hanusa. As caretaker of the Gethsemane Prayer Garden, I planted seven Becky Lynn's in the hope and promise of God's restoration process. Sometimes all you can do is hope and pray, and that is the case with me.

My first daughter's name is Laurel; I named her after the soft-pink Mountain Laurel, the state flower of Pennsylvania. On many occasions I told young Laurel how that plant is the prettiest flower in the whole wide world. Of course there are many gorgeous flowers in the world and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But that is how she was to me when she was born, the prettiest little girl in the whole wide world. For some reason, I have not been able to locate a Mountain Laurel to plant in that garden – possibly there continues to be a spiritual blockage that is yet unresolved. [See update from 09-26-2013: Mountain Laurel: Planting with care].

Mountain Laurel Kalmia latifolia from www.statesymbolsusa.org

Laurel's married name is Laurel Babcock and I have not seen her in years. The devil stole what was rightfully ours and I played into his hand.

My hope and my confidence is that what the locusts have eaten, the Lord will restore. I certainly forgive my daughters for their part in choosing to be distant. Many things were said and done over the years; it is extremely difficult for young tender ears to understand it all. Even as adults, it can be most challenging to reconcile the messages of love that parents can portray with messages of anger and bitterness. Divorce is such a hard thing on everyone, but God did not want it that way.

Will today be the day that the process begins turning around? I hope so. If not, life still goes on.

I have also pondered how I will react when we first meet again. Will I cry? I don't know, although I can easily do so at emotional settings. I am so very confident about God's restorative process that I may not cry. It might even be today.

Sea Holly: You Will Recognize Them By Their Fruit

The Sea Holly (Eryngium planum) is an amazingly showy thistle-like plant – adorned with steel-blue stems and petals from June to September, this 30" tall plant can quickly become a main conversation piece in most any garden. It is truly stunning to look at; in a different sense, it is also stunning to touch.

Jesus compared the thistle to a false prophet in his Sermon on the Mount. I find that the Sea Holly with its thistle-like appearance is an excellent example of this metaphor:

¹⁵ "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
¹⁶ You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
¹⁷ So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.
¹⁸ A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
²⁰ Thus you will recognize them by their fruits." (Matthew 7:15-20 ESV)

This brilliant blue color is rarely found in the landscape; that is why I purchased them for the Gethsemane Prayer Garden. They are just like false prophets, for deception is one of their the main characteristics.

Look closely at the fruit!

This fruit must be very carefully touched. All over the plant are very sharp needles that have only one purpose: to hurt. Even the deer stay away all year long, for this "tree" bears bad fruit.

Adjacent to the Sea Holly in the prayer garden is a beech tree which can be seen with its soft fur-covered nuts. These are good fruit for they come from a good tree. I believe Jesus would have called the Sea Holly "a bad tree" because it bears bad fruit.

Please allow me to ask a question: "According to the above Bible text, how do you recognize a false prophet?" I must admit that the answer to that question, based on these verses from Matthew, broadened my understanding of what a false prophet is. Inwardly they are like ravenous wolves; outwardly they produce bad fruit.

But also understand the implications: if a child is not showing evidence of being good fruit, that does not mean that either the child or the parent is going to be thrown in the fire. The factor of time also plays a part as does the power of prayer and the power of appropriate parenting. The value of the fruit may turn out good as it moves towards maturity.

Catmint Is Great for the Garden Border

We find that the catmint delivers a high impact color in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden for a low cost.

We purchased five of these lavender blue plants in 2004, placing them in a highly visible location near the center of the garden. These five developed four children over the next two years; the children were moved to fill in some holes between taller evergreens. In the spring of 2009, it was time to move them again.

The catmint is vibrant in color while blooming from late May through early July, but slowly the flowers fade away. Even when we cut them back in mid-summer to strive for a second bloom, the plants did not warrant their prominent center-of-the-garden location. So in 2009 we transplanted them to the border location where they now thrill our visitors – by dividing them with the sharp push of a shovel, our five initial plants had become twenty-two.

The purple tones of the common catmint are great for providing contrast to neighboring plants. Their colors can pop when combined with a bright pink such as found in petunias. We intersperse them between dark green Austrian pines which are planted near the driveway at the front of the garden. Eventually the Austrian pines will grow into a full screen protection so people cannot see into that portion of the garden. For now, the catmint provides the visual distraction so that people see the bright purples without focusing on the garden interior.

Our catmints are large, typically growing five to eight feet across; they appear to enjoy the heavily mulched hillside of the berm. The second blossoming in August through October is somewhat smaller, possibly four to six feet wide. Between the two flowering seasons, we aggressively cut them back to eighteen inches.

The result is nearly five months of prolific blossoms. I am sure that the bees, if they could talk, would be actively thanking us. Hopefully our church visitors feel invited as well – a fully flowered prayer garden is on the other side of that berm.

The Blossoms of August in the Prayer Garden

I enjoy the cooler evenings as fall approaches – the evening dew seems heavier this time of year as it settles on the soft and delicate flowers and leaves. I also enjoy watching parents as they bring their young children down by the stream to catch a frog, possibly the same one that another child delightfully caught just the day before. And I enjoy the rainbows of August, totally unscheduled events that catch the promising rays of the sun as a sudden shower leaves the area.

Most of the flowers in the Gethsemane Prayer Garden are perennials yet there is one annual, the cosmos, whose self-seeding effect gives the appearance of a perennial. The profusion of pure white, soft pink, ruby red and deep crimson blossoms peak in August, although many first opened in late June or sometime in July. If you sit quietly, you may see a brightly colored yellow goldfinch hop from branch to branch of the cosmos, eating a few seeds and scattering the rest.

I also enjoy showing the garden visitor the purple-blue anise hyssop flowers as they reach out with an invitation to smell its refreshing fragrance. "Crush the leaves as you breathe it in," I suggest. "See if you can identify what it smells like."

We also have a large collection of Russian sage in this garden, bluish-purple flowers with sprays and sprays of color. Again I encourage the garden visitor to squeeze a few leaves as we then move on to other plants such as lavender, cat mint and thyme.

To me, the Japanese anemone is the August show-stopper in the garden. Hundreds and hundreds of softly-hued pinkish-lavender blossoms prolifically fill one larger area. Although most people cannot detect a fragrance from these elegant flowers, the honey bees may be seen enthusiastically flitting from blossom to blossom, totally oblivious to people nearby.


Purple coneflowers continue their simple yet multitudinous blossoming in many areas throughout the garden in August. By the end of August, many will have lost their color so we clip off the old dead heads to prevent many new plants from sprouting.

This garden is heavily dependent on a large force of volunteers – some years we have more than others. When we have enough people, we try to trim the spirea so that they can get a second or even a third period of flowering. We have a dozen or so in the garden ranging from white to soft pink to vibrant red, and they are truly beautiful while in blossom.

For more information, see Photo gallery of Gethsemane Prayer Garden: August's blossoms

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End Note: The overall theme for this series of articles is flowers and plants, showing how they point to love. Sometimes I write 'how to' do something, other times the emphasis is a status update, or the article will be about how a plant or flower touched my heart. All of these writings are based on plants from the Gethsemane Prayer Garden in Syracuse, NY. Please consider some of the other blog articles: Index of Articles About the Gethsemane Prayer Garden.

A Daisy-Like Flower Bed in Memory of Gino

I must admit that I am not much of a fan of the color yellow in a meditative garden. Long and hard I have put off the urging of others to add yellow to our otherwise softer colors of pink, purple, white, blue, red, etc. To me, if we are to be listening for the voice of God, we should be still, or as least not excited – and that is what yellow can do, excite us, or at least it excites my thoughts.

I have a number of yellow flowers around my house, and we have yellow potentilla and yellow lilies around the church building, but not so much in the Prayer Garden. Even when I selected daisies for the garden two years ago, I purchased the shaggy ones that don't have a yellow center. I'm not against yellow per se, I just want us to have that experience with the Lord.

But this year it has changed. Thanks to a $125 donation to the garden in memory of a man named Gino, his mother and I both felt that it would be best to remember him with daisies. Actually we planted a daisy-like bed that includes various types of daisies as well as other flowers such as white coneflowers, light yellow coreopsis, spurge, and a dash of Gaillardia (blanket flower).

Then a $50 donation came in for some yellow roses, and these were planted adjacent to the daisy-like bed. I selected the light colored yellow 'Knock Out' rose that is very disease resistant. Due to the summer heat, all of the flowers had died off at the nursery where I purchased them. Yesterday I noticed that one new bud has just opened and the colors go very well with the various white and yellow flowers in the adjacent bed.

I can't explain why I have now allowed yellow when I was so fanatical in other years. This newest bed is in an area that is somewhat isolated from the rest of the garden, and is visible from only one of the benches. Yet there is enough white in this flower bed along with softer yellow tones that the combined daisies and roses look very good. Will it disrupt hearing God's voice or sensing His peace and love? I don't know, but time will tell.

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End Note: The overall theme for this series of articles is flowers and plants, showing how they point to love. Sometimes I write 'how to' do something, other times the emphasis is a status update, or the article will be about how a plant or flower touched my heart. All of these writings are based on plants from the Gethsemane Prayer Garden in Syracuse, NY. Please consider some of the other blog articles: Index of Articles About the Gethsemane Prayer Garden.