The Bible Garden

You are looking at the home of the Bryce Avenue Presbyterian Church (BAPC), a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America. BAPC has served the Los Alamos/White Rock community since its founding in 1975.

Our purpose can be summarized by the statement: "... to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him beautiful and glorious in the eyes of men and to promote the increase of repentance, faith, and holiness upon earth." J.C.Ryle

Please enjoy a walk through our garden and learn about local and exotic plants. See how they were, and continue to be, an important part of God’s plan through His Word.

Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created. Revelation 4:11

Rose hips, which are the fruits produced from the flowers, are an important food source for deer and bears and are high in vitamin C. There are over a hundred species of roses and thousands of cultivars. Rose perfumes are made from rose oil (also called attar of roses), which is a mixture of volatile essential oils obtained by steam distilling the crushed petals of roses. About two thousand flowers are required to produce one gram of oil.

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Matthew 26:6-13 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table. But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

The Phoenician juniper was the cedar wood used by the Levites during the sacrifices in association with hyssop and scarlet. This is the desert shrub of Jeremiah 17:6 and 48:6.

The mountains of Lebanon were once shaded by thick cedar forests and the tree is the symbol of the country. After centuries of persistent deforestation, the extent of these forests has been markedly reduced. In the Bible, Solomon procured cedar timber to build the Temple in Jerusalem.

The cedar is often used figuratively in the Scriptures. The mighty conquerors of olden days were all compared to the towering cedar, in its royal loftiness and supremacy.

 Psalm 92:12 The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Perhaps exceptional apricots were available to Solomon, who wrote in Proverbs 25:11 “Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances.” This would describe an apricot well. In the New Testament, edible fruits were often used in parables.

Matthew 7:15-17 Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.”

This well-known garden bulb with fragrant white flowers occurs very rarely in the Mediterranean type of vegetation of Carmel and Galilee. It was likely not common in Palestine, although in Crete it was frequent in the art and depicted in palace murals. It symbolized purity and grace for the Greeks and Romans from early days.

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In the 17th century, English settlers brought the apricot to the English colonies in the New World. Most of modern American production of apricots comes from the seedlings carried to the west coast by Spanish missionaries. Today, apricot cultivation has spread to all parts of the globe with climates that support it.

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Psalm 104:14 (KJV) He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth."

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The image to the left is an Armenian stamp featuring the apricot. Post of Armenia = www.armenianstamps.com 

John 19-28-30 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

Psalm 19:1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Song of Solomon 2:12 (NIRV) Flowers are appearing on the earth. The season for singing has come. The cooing of doves is heard in our land."

Isaiah 55:12 (NIV) For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

Native to Siberia, this honeysuckle is an introduced species in North America. In some locations (not in NM) it is considered a noxious weed. It spreads easily when birds and animals consume the fruits and forms dense thickets, crowding out the native species.

In Illinois, this shrub should not be cultivated because it invades natural areas and reduces biodiversity. Tatarian Honeysuckle can be distinguished from other honeysuckle shrubs by the color of its flowers (when they are pink) and the lack of hairs on its leaves.

The long flowers resemble a trumpet, which is an instrument thought to represent peace and praise to the Lord. In the same way as a trumpet, the beauty of nature proclaims glory and praise to our Lord.

This small to medium tree is native to northern China, and is widely cultivated and naturalized elsewhere, including the United States. The white mulberry is used to feed silkworms for production of silk and as food for livestock. The fruits are also eaten, often dried or made into wine. The mulberry is also notable for the rapid release of its pollen, which is launched at over half the speed of sound. In the New Testament there is a reference to the Sycamine tree, the Greek word for mulberry tree. (Luke 17:6 KJV).

The black mulberry is a stout deciduous tree, growing slowly and attaining a great age. Its gnarled trunk could collapse over time, but the spaces are filled by lesser trunks arising from its base. The piling of stones around the base of the trunk for support of the tree and to encourage growth of new shoots is an old practice. The resulting tree can be very difficult to uproot, which gives understanding and background to the passage in Luke.

This square stemmed plant is in the mint family Laminaceae, which includes the well know Biblical Hyssop plant. The Double Bubblemint is also known as the mosquito plant or Texas hummingbird mint. It is a hardy perennial belonging to the genus Agastache derived from the Greek word meaning "a lot of", and stachy, meaning "spike", which refers to the flower's 12 terminal spikes that decorate the plant. The plant is native to New Mexico and western Texas, where it grows in mountainous areas at altitudes of 6,000 feet.

The plant has obtained recognition for attracting broad-tailed hummingbirds as well as being a natural mosquito repellent. This mint family member has a highly flavored oil that repels many flying insects, including mosquitos. It works in the same way as the citronella. In order to release the mosquito-repelling odor, the plant needs to be crushed and rubbed onto surfaces. Many people apply the contents of the crushed plant directly to their skin. King David referred to the hyssop as a symbol of cleansing in Psalm 51 where he appealed to the Lord to be purified from his sins.

Also known as arrowwood, the viburnum is a large genus of plants that come in a wide variety of sizes; some evergreen, mostly drought-tolerant, largely free of diseases, with a strong trend toward deer resistance. There are both American natives and nonnatives to choose from. Some scholars believe that Viburnum titus, a rare shrub of Carmel and now widely cultivated, was one of the trees that ‘shall be set in the desert’ as referenced in Isaiah 41.

Although generally found more in North America, these flowers grace the hillsides with their beauty in spring and summer.

Spring in Palestine is also beautiful with the blooming of flowers, but the season is restricted to a few short weeks. The poets and prophets took notice of this and referenced the ‘flower of the field’ or the ‘flower of the grass’ in Scriptures as symbolic of the brief span of human life.

This deciduous shrub is native to central and northern China, Japan, and Korea. The stems are notable for their four corky ridges or "wings".

The common name "burning bush" comes from the bright red fall color. It is a popular ornamental plant in gardens and parks due to its bright pink or orange fruit and attractive fall color. The species gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. This plant is an invasive species of woodlands in eastern North America, and its importation and sale is prohibited in the states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The wild chokecherry is often considered a pest, as it is a host for the tent caterpillar, a threat to other fruit plants. However, there are more appreciated cultivars of the chokecherry, having more palatable, fruit.

For many Native American tribes chokecherries were the most important fruit in their diets. The bark of chokecherry root was used to ward off or treat colds, fever and stomach maladies. Chokecherry is toxic to horses, moose, cattle, goats, deer, and other animals with segmented stomachs (rumens), especially after the leaves have wilted. The shrub can take the place of more productive or palatable plants.

The New Mexico Olive is as close as we can get in the southwest desert to the Mediterranean Olive tree, being in the same family, but the fruit is not the same table quality. For the New Mexico Olive to produce fruit there needs to be both a male and female tree in close proximity.

The true olive tree is clearly one of the star plants in the Bible, being an important source of food, fuel and oil; a mainstay of the Israel culture. The anointing of people and objects with olive oil has a long history and sacred significance. The Mount of Olives is certainly one of the most famous locations, and the place ‘Gethsemane’ means oil-press. Paul talks of grafting wild olive branches to cultivated olive branches in Romans 11:17-24. The nation of Israel symbolizes the cultivated olive trees from which God has broken off some of the branches. In their place he has grafted in faithful Gentiles, likening to formerly useless wild olives, to partake of the richness of the cultivated tree. Paul uses this analogy to accentuate the richness of God’s grace in the salvation of the Gentiles. A failed yield of olives in those time could be disastrous.

Iris is a genus of 260–300 species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, which is also the name for the Greek goddess of the rainbow, Iris. The iris flower is of interest as an example of the relation between flowering plants and pollinating insects. The shape of the flower and the position of the pollen-receiving and stigmatic surfaces on the outer petals form a perfect landing-stage.

The insect then comes in contact with its pollen-covered surface only after passing the stigma. Then in backing out of the flower it will come in contact only with the non-receptive lower face of the stigma. Thus, an insect bearing pollen from one flower will, in entering a second, deposit the pollen on the stigma; in backing out of a flower, the pollen which it bears will not be rubbed off on the stigma of the same flower. This insures cross pollination from one flower to another. An ingenious design!

This plant is closely related to our native sagebrush, and the Mediterranean equivalent Artemisia herba-alba is thought to be the plant translated as "wormwood" in English language versions of the Bible.

Wormwood is mentioned with the implication of bitterness in the Old Testament and is the "name of the star" in the Book of Revelation 8:11 that falls into the waters, making them undrinkably bitter.

Flowers typically last no more than 24 hours. The flowers of most species open in early morning and wither during the following night, possibly replaced by another one on the same stalk the next day. Some species are night-blooming.

Here is another look at the New Mexico Olive tree. One of our missionaries, upon hearing of our Bible garden, told us that for sure we needed an olive tree in our garden. Winter temperatures get too cold in the White Rock climate for the true Mediterranean Olive, Olia europeae, to thrive, so we got the next best plant which is in the same family, but adapted to the New Mexico climate. The olive trees of the Bible are still plentiful around the countryside and are known for their tenacity.

They grow in almost any condition: on terraced hills or in valleys, in rocky or fertile soil. They can thrive in great heat with a minimum of water, and are virtually indestructible. Some grow from root systems 2,000 years old, yet the olive producer has to wait fifteen years for his first good harvest. It was an olive leaf that a dove brought to Noah's ark after ‘The Flood’

Barberry is a shrub found in the Los Alamos ponderosa woodlands. The plant can grow up to six feet in height, but is generally only a foot or two high in our area. The flowers are yellow and the fruit is an oblong red berry ripening in late summer or autumn. The berries are edible but very sour, and rich in Vitamin C.In our Bible garden, this is the plant representing the curse of thistles and thorns which is a concept continued throughout the entire Bible.

The barberry is conveniently located next to another of our sinister wormwood plants described in Station 17. Prickly plants represent the bad and useless as in Luke 6:43-44. For no good tree bears bad fruit… for figs and not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. And of course Paul talked of his “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12:7.

A native to China and Japan, the dwarf flowering almond was introduced in the early 1800s. It is a tough shrub with spectacular early spring flowers, no fall color, and no fruits. The closely related Biblical wild almonds may still be found here and there in Palestine. Goats grazing them keep them small in size. The cultivated almond, Prunus dulcis, are grown in the Mediterranian for their nuts.

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Exodus 25:33-34 Three cups shall be shaped like almond blossoms in the one branch, a bulb and a flower, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bulb and a flower—so for six branches going out from the lampstand; and in the lampstand four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its bulbs and its flowers.

The myrtle tree is always green and has a strong root system that keeps it going even during dire times. Even when cut down to a stump, its roots cause it to sprout again.

Job 14:7-9 For there is hope for a tree, when it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and its shoots will not fail, though its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the dry soil, at the scent of water it will flourish and put forth sprigs like a plant.

When situations around us appear to be hopeless with no sign of getting better, we can draw from the Spirit of God within us, who is able to sustain us with the assurance that we are His, reminding us of His word and that what He has spoken will come to pass.

John 7:38 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”

Many homes and structures were burned in the Cerro Grande and Las Conchas fires of 2000, and 2011. There were catastrophic loses of homes, personal property and forest resources. But there was also the coming together of a community in new and marvelous ways. There was generosity, compassion, caring, and helping hands in abundance. These qualities of the human spirit didn’t get burned up in the fire, and have led to the healing and rebuilding still going on today.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Joshua 17:18 but the hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall clear it, and to its farthest borders it shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, even though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong."

In the book of Acts, Peter figures prominently in the “opening of doors” to three different groups of people so they can enter the Kingdom. God’s will is that sinners be granted access to heaven through the righteousness of Christ.

Genesis 13:18 Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Exodus 12:8 They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Exodus 25:31 Then you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand and its base and its shaft are to be made of hammered work; its cups, its bulbs and its flowers shall be of one piece with it.

Many prickly plants occur in cultivated and disturbed ground. This was likely true even back in Biblical times. Today these are often considered noxious weeds, but back then the thorny plants were an important source of fuel. The peasant farmer was likely glad to be rid of such prolific and unproductive plants. In an almost treeless country where fuel is hard to come by, many of the thorny plants provided more heat and fuel than the annual plants. They burn readily with a bright and noisy flame as Solomon observed and wrote about in Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 7:6. For as the crackling of thorn bushes under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool;

1 Corinthians 12:18-26- But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Luke 11:42 But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

The Russian olive can fix nitrogen in its roots, enabling it to grow on bare mineral substrates. Even though the Russian olive tree is considered a noxious weed in New Mexico, one has to admire its hardiness and ability to thrive in the harshest of environments, sort of like a Christian.

Psalm 1:1-3 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.

John 15:1-5   “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing

The Jerusalem or Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) was never a common tree in Israel due to its stringent ecological requirements, although it is now planted by the millions in modern Israel. Like our Western pines, the Israel pines experience a similar pattern of stresses that threaten the species. Our Western pines are stressed by draught and then attacked by bark beetle or spruce bud worm, and then subject to catastrophic fires.

In Israel, the Jerusalem pine can create thick stands, then subject to their equivalent epidemic of the scale insect, the Matsucoccus josephi and the caterpillars, Thaumatopoea wilkinsoni. Again, the dead and dying trees are very susceptible to fire. With adequate water, the sap of the pine trees can often push the intruders out and create a defense. Just as a person is more susceptible to disease when stressed, so are the plants and trees. The Christian needs to stay well-nourished in God’s word to stay spiritually healthy in our stressful world.

Ephesians 6:10-11 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.