Cuttings & Pollinators

A Multipurpose Green Space for Creation Stewardship

Church of the Redeemer — Nashville, TN | Creation Stewardship Update — 2025.11.16

Audio Update

Here's an initial update on the creation stewardship garden, and a place for circulating more notes as we start to grow and potentially involve more volunteers, etc. Folks can always catch up with a complete log of our activities. A complete transcript and update from our Sunday meeting are coming soon, along with additional notes to be appended below. More to come!

A Principled Approach to Creation Stewardship

This document gathers an initial set of notes summarizing recent developments in the Creation Stewardship garden, with particular emphasis on our directional focus for the coming year. It also introduces a preliminary collection of work-in-progress plans—each expected to grow in both breadth and depth as we move forward.

The general program-level design is intentionally step-wise and iterative in order to be well-suited to parish volunteer participation.

As we pursue a complete plan of action, we also acknowledge that the activity of planning is more important than any particular plan. Likewise the health of natural living systems depends less on rigid foresight and more on our ability to observe, learn, and respond with skill and care. For this reason, we treat every plan as a perpetual rough draft, with each revision bringing us closer to our goals and each new development supplying the next set of insights.

Our aim therefore is to keep a grand vision for a vibrant creation stewardship ministry while translating that vision into simple, manageable parts—clearly phased, achievable, iterative, and always open to change.

Spring 2026 Milestone

The garden is envisioned as a unified space where beauty, ecology, and formation intersect within the life of the parish. Many goals and ideas have been put forward accordingly.

•A unified space for beauty, ecology, and discipleship.

•Provides cut flowers year-round to the Flower Guild.

•Creates a pollinator haven supporting at-risk species.

•Serves as an educational environment for children and adults.

•Models a theology of stewardship, presence, and renewal.

We therefore aim to establish a thriving, regenerative garden at the earliest seasonal opportunity, the Spring of 2026, and to initiate in the off season any steps in service of the same.

Species Inspiration

Here is a small collection of native (and native-adjacent) plantings that inspire the vision for the garden.

Altar Flowers

The garden is designed to support the Flower Guild with supply for reverent arrangements that align with their needs throughout the liturgical year.

Succession Planting — ensures year-round blooms through seasonal rotation.

Cutting Flowers — chosen for vase life, beauty, and reverence.

Foliage & Greens — provides structure for both formal and natural arrangements.

Liturgical Color Significance — aligns natural beauty with the church calendar.

Pollinators & Ecology

Beyond beauty, the garden is a living habitat designed to care for the small creatures that sustain our ecosystems.

•Supports native pollinators.

•Enhances biodiversity in parish greenspace.

•Aligns with stewardship theology and conservation practices.

Assessments

Terrain & Geometry — field measurements, grade, slope, and 3D terrain modeling.

Proposed Layout — beds, paths, planting zones, signage, and educational elements.

Soil Conditions — drainage, composition, organic matter, and required amendments.

Tactics

Initial Build-Out

•Ground prep and soil amendments.

•Bed formation and edge definition.

•Installation of paths, signage, and irrigation.

•Initial plantings and mulch.

Maintenance

•Weekly tasks aligned with the church calendar.

•Cutting schedule for the Flower Guild.

•Staking, deadheading, dividing, and pruning.

Volunteer Coordination

•Weekly light-labor rota.

•Clear, simple task sheets.

•Seasonal "all-hands" days.

Telemetry

•Soil moisture and temperature.

•Sun exposure.

•Water levels.

•Pest and disease alerts.

Costing

We have several early passes at what costs might look like, both for the initial build-out and for ongoing maintenance. Ongoing maintenance is very light on costs. A complete budget will be assembled after we finalize designs, which will be kept at or under the given budget.

One-Time Costs

•Plants, bulbs, and seeds.

•Garden infrastructure.

•Wet zones and irrigation setup.

•Permanent signage.

•Educational materials.

Ongoing Costs

•Seasonal refresh plants.

•Mulch & compost.

•Hand tools.

•Optional expansions (additional beds, orchard elements, etc.).

Educational Layer

Formation Through Creation Stewardship

A Self-Describing Garden

Imagine a "self-describing" garden, with quiet seating and simple signage such that any person happening upon it will be able to walk away with a clear overview of its purpose and an insight into the practice of creation stewardship.

Waypoints

•Pollinator call-outs.

•Plant family markers and species names.

•Liturgical color to flower alignment.

Digital Resources

•Garden guide (mobile-friendly).

•Pollinator encyclopedia.

•Flower Guild resource library.

Children's Formation

•Field guide cards.

•Scavenger hunts.

•Seasonal catechesis on creation.

•Hands-on participation in planting and harvest.

Summary & Next Steps

A Garden for Beauty, Stewardship, and Formation

We're getting organized and ready for an early spring 2026 build-out of a long await green space which supports the parish, the Flower Guild, and local ecology. The garden aims to demonstrate practical creation stewardship, provide enduring beauty, and integrate into the life of the church through a regenerative, continuously improving system. Designs are underway with drafts to be submitted before Christmas.

Immediate Next Steps

☑Circulate these meeting notes.

☑Randall will be sharing our current status with the vestry this coming week.

☑We'll prepare layout plans according to the development phases we discussed, which will also make their way to the vestry (at a future meeting).

☑We will coordinate over email to find a time, likely early December, for marking out areas on the property, also according to the layout and development phases.

Please sign up to learn more or participate in Creation Stewardship initiatives.

Prepared for Church of the Redeemer, Nashville, TN

Creation Stewardship update — November 15, 2026