20+ Year History

A small group called a meeting to order in the parlor of St. Luke's United Methodist Church twenty years ago on a cold March night to talk about a garden that might be planted at the church.  The seeds planted that night were based on a love of herbs, and the fact that monks tended medieval cloistered gardens for medicinal and culinary purposes.  It was the church's job to garden and pass garden knowledge down to following generations.

1-  The Sowers' first garden was planted along the side of the education building (now the large sanctuary).  Its informal, meandering design was landscaped by the charter members (8 women) who donated plants from their yards and purchased a limited amount of nursery herbs.  Each person had a plot to plant, tend and water.  The garden thrived along with the church! An addition to the church forced the Sowers to find another location.  

2-  The second garden found its new home in the present location in 1987.  After wintering over plants in members' gardens and homes, the pitiful fill-dirt plot was amended and plants were replanted.  The little one-gallon boxwoods were planted, along with starting espaliers of non-fruiting pear trees, and a wide mulch path down the center.

Today-  You will find a mature garden with a wide variety of herbs and plants (Click here for the Sower's Plant List) because of the efforts of the Sower's over the past twenty years. The garden has also benefited from the numerous fund  raisers (bazaar and plant sale) and memorial gifts from the congregation so that the garden has a lovely blue slate path, a sprinkler system, night lighting, foundation planting and sculpture.