Natural Grace Garden – Better Than Ever

If you ever wander to the back of the church, you will see a modest garden with a sign that says Natural Grace Garden. This garden in no way rivals the beautiful gardens that Betty Long and her team of volunteers nourish to make the church grounds a garden showplace. In fact, it’s fair to point out that Betty’s gardens are in fact “natural” as well—there’s not a single artificial flower to be found—but the garden at the back of the church features native plants, most of which attract pollinators.

History of Natural Grace Garden

The garden tended by Church & Society was started over 15 years ago, when we initially aimed to grow and harvest vegetables for Loaves and Fishes. A wire fence was erected to protect the harvest. Later, we planted sunflowers to brighten the space. In years when the sunflowers survived birds, squirrels, and wind storms, the sunflower heads were packaged as winter wildlife-feeding and sustainable gifts at Mistletoe Market every year.

In 2020, Church & Society added many types of native pollinators to the garden—Asclepias tuberosa and incarnata (noninvasive milkweed), Monarda (bee balm), Liatris scariosa (Northern blazing star), Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan), and Echinacea (coneflower). In late June through August, you could see monarch and swallowtail butterflies flitting above the garden like they were auditioning for a Walt Disney movie. In 2021, Church & Society hosted an educational program for children to teach them how to create their own butterfly gardens, and about the benefits of native pollinators. During and after COVID, garden maintenance was mostly limited to keeping the area weeded, and planting new sunflowers every season. 

We’re Back!

In May 2025, Church & Society removed the fencing around the garden and readied the garden for renewed vigor of the bee balm, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, milkweed, and coneflowers. The blazing star didn’t survive the intervening seasons. This year we plan to add signs that identify the plants, as well as explain the benefits of tending a plot of native plants for the purpose of attracting pollinators. 

We invite everyone to the back of the church to check out Natural Grace Garden!  

Note in Memoriam: Many people have contributed to the preparation and maintenance of the garden. One of the most enthusiastic and dependable workers was Bob Schmitt, whose inexhaustible contributions and positivity will be forever missed.