A garden has so many benefits and no one knows more about that than 16-year-old Nicholas Storm, who helped build a prayer garden for Lord of Life Lutheran Church on Roscoe Boulevard in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Storm had been in boy scouts since he was three years old and is part of Troop 277 in Ponte Vedra Beach and when it came time for his Eagle Scout project he turned to Lord of Life to offer some assistance.
The prayer garden he created sits just outside the front of the church and features four rectangular-shaped garden beds with a mixture stone in between the beds and a brick section in the center where past church members are remembered with their names etched in the bricks.
One of the primary focuses of the garden is not just to provide a peaceful place for churchgoers to prayer and be one with God but it also serves a dual purpose as an example of good garden conservation techniques.
According to Storm, one of the first things when considering conservation was to be mindful of using plants and flowers native to Florida and the soil of the area.
Many of the plants are helpful in attracting pollinator species such as birds, butterflies and bees, while others are purely for looks and beautification.
Highlights of the garden also include a bird feeder, specially designed for blue jays, which have been spotted on the church property and a butterfly “puddler” to attract them and help them quench their thirst and provide essential minerals.
“A couple of weeks after it was put in, we had blue jays and baby birds in there,” Storm said. “The butterfly ‘puddler’ has sand with sea salt in it as well as manure. It provides the salts and ammino acids they wouldn’t normally get from just nectar.”
Storm and his family became good friends with Shelia Kolesaire, who serves as the president at Lord of Life.
“The congregation had always wanted a prayer garden and had planned to hire a company to come and install a garden, but they were going to charge $32,000 for it,” Storm said. “I was able to come in and do it completely free to the church, only asking donations from the congregation, which we were able to raise $10,000 toward it. The money not used went back to the church.”
Storm is holding an event at the garden June 3 from 10 a.m. to noon, where he will talk about the project and give ideas and tips of how others can duplicate such steps with their home garden.
There will also be activities for children, including creating a butterfly “puddler” and a pinecone bird treat to take home.
The event will take place rain or shine. Lord of Life Lutheran Church is located at 276 Roscoe Blvd. N. in Ponte Vedra Beach.
