Prayer Garden Renovation

03-03-2019Weekly ReflectionFr. Chad King

Now is the time of renovations! As I hope you are aware, the plans for renovating the Parish Center are beginning and we are forming a consulting and design committee (see the back cover for more info). The actual construction will begin once we receive enough funds from the Together Let Us Go Forth diocesan campaign.

Recently, it came to my attention that the garden area on the way to the Adoration Chapel also needs to be renovated. A parishioner who has many years of landscape expertise informed me that the main tree in the middle of the garden had died (no, not the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil) and the new one that was recently planted will die as well unless the artificial turf is removed. Although it looks nice and adds some color to the area, the green artificial turf creates a heat barrier. In the hot summer, it actually traps the heat in the soil underneath and kills the roots of the tree—apparently it is possible for trees to get too much sun also! Likewise, some of the plants that are currently in the garden area are not suited for our Arizona climate. The parishioner has put together a rough drawing of what the garden would look like after the renovation. As you can see, it is generally staying the same, but it will have different plants in some of the areas. He and another parishioner, who also has vast knowledge of good trees and plants for our Arizona climate, have selected new plants that do not require a lot of maintenance. They have assured me that the plants they haven chosen will have a variety of different colors of blooms throughout the year so that the garden will always look nice with minimal upkeep. In addition, he can verify that the new plants will be more suited for the space they are planted with the projected room for growth. Personally, I would have never thought about which plants should be planted where—whether they get enough or too much shade in the area they’re planted, etc. There is quite a bit of thought that goes into the planning and design, so I am very thankful for these two parishioners’ expertise, experience, and time they have already put into the project. Additionally, I am very excited and grateful that they are donating their labor by doing the work themselves! Finally, a big “thank you” to our generous Knights of Columbus who have volunteered to pay for the new plants and the complete renovation! We apologize in advance to those going to Adoration during the renovation for any noise or inconvenience. The project is estimated to take approximately a week to complete and will be done before Easter.