Welcome to our October Newsletter!
We’re so glad to share the latest news from the garden with you, especially this week, when the universal Church celebrated the Feast of St Francis of Assisi, the patron of ecologists.
Saint Francis certainly helped inspire this garden. In his day, the saint "asked that part of the friary garden always be left untouched, so that wild flowers and herbs could grow there, and those who saw them could raise their minds to God, the Creator of such beauty." (Laudato Si', 12).
Autumn in the Garden: If you stop by the St Theresa Laudato Si’ Garden these days, you’ll find it is full of wispy grasses and the purple asters.
The purple cone flowers are mostly just seed pods for the birds but a few are still in bloom. The goldenrod is also full of its tiny yellow flowers… bees can still be seen enjoying the blooms.
Most surprising to us is that the geranium is still going strong. We always think of them as an early blooming spring flowers, but they have been putting out their purple flowers since we planted them in early June.
Geranium still blooming well into autumn...
Purple coneflower transitioning to winter food, while the goldenrod bursts into yellow bloom...
At the September 23rd “volunteer in the garden” day, parishioners attended to various tasks, including weeding, completing the placement of steppingstones, and giving the bird bath a good scrub.
Placing steppingstones and removing invasive species at the September Volunteer in the Garden Day...
We’re not the only ones noticing the garden, it seems. Now that ST school is back in session, we’ve been treated to the curiosity of children, who always help “grown-ups” see things in a new light. The group you see in this photo was most interested in the bird bath’s “water wiggler” and wanted to know the names of each and every one of the flowers.
St Theresa School students
Plant of the Month
Rough Goldenrod "Heavenly Glory"
(Solidago Rugosa)
We picked the Rough Goldenrod, the delicate yellow blooming flower blooming so profusely in the garden now.
Rough Goldenrod is a compact and cascading plant that feeds the butterflies and bees in late summer and into fall. It forms lovely clumps or eye-catching sprays that are packed with tiny, bright yellow flowers late in the growing season when many other plants have quit blooming. The dried seeds of this plant provide food for birds in fall and winter.
This easy to grow herbaceous perennial loves sun or light shade and can be cut back to maintain its size. It looks lovely with fall blooming aster plants. It is often wrongly accused of causing hay fever which is actually an allergic reaction to wind-borne pollen from plants such as ragweed.
The scientific name for Goldenrod is Solidago from the Latin word solidare, meaning “to join,” or “bring together,” as the lips of a wound “to make whole.” Think of the word solder. This speaks to Goldenrod’s long history of healing wounds. Goldenrod represents encouragement and growth. Often given in times of grieving and loss, goldenrod is meant to be a sign of positivity and support.
Goldenrod's spiritual meaning is “Heavenly Glory.”
Garden Practice of the Month
Autumn Leaves Make Great Ground Cover!
By now, most of us are reaching for our rakes to clear autumn’s falling leaves. This year, consider keeping those leaves and using them on your property as mulch!
Leaves are a valuable resource as they store carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium, and other trace minerals. Mulching with leaves enriches the surrounding soil with these nutrients as they decompose.
Leaves can easily be shredded and collected for spreading by using a lawn mower with a bagging attachment. Whole or shredded leaves can be raked into vegetable gardens, flower beds and around shrubs and trees. Working leaves into garden soils before the ground freezes will prepare your beds for the spring planting season. Avoid high concentrations of walnut leaves, and any leaf which appears diseased.
To discourage tree or shrub rot, remember not to pile leaves directly against the stem of any plant or tree.
Garden Supporter of the Month
Debbie Christensen
For September's Laudato Si’ Garden Supporter of the Month, we picked Debbie Christensen.
Debbie Christensen has been a parishioner of St. Theresa for 65 years. In addition to helping with the Laudato Si’ Garden and serving on the Garden’s Planning Committee, Debbie serves as the Welcoming Team Lead for the 7:00 am Sunday mass and the Wednesday 8:00 am mass (after which you might see her over in the Garden weeding, watering, and watching for any new flowers!).
When asked what motivated her to help with the Laudato Si’ Garden, Debbie shared that “I became part of Laudato Si' because I love digging in the dirt and love learning from other people. I have had a lot of fun and have learned many interesting things.”
And when asked what she thinks the Laudato Si’ Garden brings to the parish, she shared the following: “Besides bringing beauty to the parish I feel the garden teaches the necessity to respect what God has given us in the native plants.”
We are so grateful for your love of digging in the dirt and all that you have done to make this first year of the Garden a reality. Thank you, Debbie!
(Future date: Saturday, November 4th, 1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.).
Thank you again for your support and interest.
Please keep us, and all of God’s beautiful Creation, in your prayers.
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“As Christians, we are also called “to accept the world as a sacrament of communion, as a way of sharing with God and our neighbours on a global scale.
It is our humble conviction that the divine and the human meet in the slightest detail in the seamless garment of God’s creation, in the last speck of dust of our planet.”
(Laudato Si'#9)
