I got my obedient plant from a friend, who warned me about it; she also gave me a baby Rose of Sharon, as well as several other less-religiously-inclined plants. She described them all to me as “thug-like,” meaning that you could just stick them right into the heavy West Tennessee clay and watch them grow, knocking down everything in their path in the process. “Thug-like” might not sound very virtuous, but if like me you love gardens but hate weeding, you may see the virtue in plants at whose advent even the noxious weeds cower and flee. It helps, I guess, to like flowers which are themselves technically weeds. Now that I think of it, maybe this discussion belongs under the rubric not of “faith gardens,” but of “vice gardens.” My theme would be sloth.
I’d never considered going out to buy obedient plant, but after writing about it, I thought that maybe other indomitable souls might want to try some, and you don’t all live close enough to me to come and take some of mine.
So I’ve found a source for it online: Easy Wildflowers. They sell, they say, a less-invasive strain of obedient plant, in addition to more possibilities for a faith-themed garden, including St. John’s Wort, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Jacob’s Ladder, Bloodroot, Passionflower, Cardinal Flower, and American Spikenard.
So, there you have it. If you want a faith garden (or a vice garden, as a reminder to make a good Confession), it’s out there. [Rating: 90/100]
You have a decision to make: double or nothing.
For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.
In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.
So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?
Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
