Good Friday Garden and Choosing a Tree

Both my grandfathers planted their gardens on Good Friday. We’ve adopted this tradition as well. The Good Friday garden.

Good Friday Garden

And while it’s a good practice to wait until Good Friday because all danger of frost has past, we’ve discovered another significance.

We talk about Easter. We pour that fresh soil into a flower bed. And a little finger makes a little hole for a sunflower seed. It’s then that we talk about Jesus. About the tomb and how it was closed up. Sometimes we talk about how dark it must have been in there. How the disciples must have felt on that Friday. And we talk about the seeds and how we place them down in the hole, in the darkness.

But then we focus on the promise. The promise of a risen Savior. The hope! The Son and the sun. And we anticipate those new garden sprouts.

Then, on that same afternoon as the planting, a youngest boy stops and he asks. He asks, “Where is my tree?” (Back when Middle Girl was born, we planted a maple tree. She was less than a month old and the tree was nothing but a tiny stick. Today, it is taller than her and we are very familiar with all the seasons of her backyard maple.)

Lil’ Buddy, he asks, “Where is my tree?” and the answer comes to me immediately. “Which one would you like?” I ask. He thinks. And he surveys, the boy of four, he is.

And he chooses the tall pine tree next to the playhouse. I ask why he chose that one. “Because it is big and tall,” he says. Yes, and you are growing big and tall too, I say. And he is. Rather quickly.

And now we have yet another tree to watch and to notice through the seasons.

The anticipation of growing seeds and other gifts of Easter…

• Just simple little patches of growing things. Just enough to enjoy.
• Littlest Girl’s sunflower garden.
• A daisy patch relocated out of the mower’s path.
• Middle Girl’s squash and cucumber.

• Lil’ Buddy’s basil and pretty patch of grass from Sunday School.
• Zinnias, black-eyed susan.
• Containers of red geraniums and lime-green sweet potato vine.

A glorious Easter celebration!

• Maybe your children would like to choose a tree and study it? We recommend the tree studies at Handbook of Nature Study.
• April is National Garden Month!
• We know you will love Nana’s nature art lessons – including her How to Plan a Garden Map and more in the You ARE an ARTiST Clubhouse!
• Have a Memorable Easter and Draw Your Way Through The Resurrection Story.

How does your garden grow?

-originally published April 2012 and updated February 2021