Sometimes the loveliest gardens can be right under our noses and we don’t even know they’re there. The gardens at Amherst’s Grace Episcopal Church are such a hidden gem. The Spring Street garden, enjoyed by everyone who walks down the street, is just a small taste of the plantings that the Church’s Garden Ministry has created all around the property.
I recently took a tour of the gardens with Sara Liberty-Laylin, chair of the Garden Ministry, and longtime Ministry member Mary Hocken, who first began attending the church in 1982 and joined the Ministry soon thereafter. The handsome Gothic Revival church, built in the mid-1860s of gray gneiss from Pelham, is a prominent feature of downtown Amherst.
The handsome Gothic Revival church built in the mid-1860s of gray gneiss from Pelham is a prominent feature of downtown Amherst. Next to the church steps is a lively pollinator garden that a member of the congregation put in two years ago. “This year it’s coming into its own,” said Liberty-Laylin, pointing out spigelia, balloon flower, butterfly weed, Joe Pye weed and a lovely peach-colored agastache, also known as hummingbird mint. The pollinator bed, alive with butterflies and bees, is surrounded by lush, low-growing evergreens including Russian cypress and Japanese holly.
Around the corner on Spring Street is the garden that Hocken planted around 15 years ago after the Town tore up the street, destroying the previous garden that ran along the edge of the sidewalk. A native of Somerset, England, Hocken said she grew up gardening on her family’s “mixed farm” that included various animals and crops as well as large flower and vegetable gardens and a 15th-century farmhouse. “We grew practically everything we ate,” she said, “particularly during the war years.”
For this very public garden Hocken has assembled a collection of bulbs, perennials and annuals that bloom throughout the year. The garden wakes in the spring with cheery spring daffodils, tulips and grape hyacinths. These are followed by a host of sun-loving perennials, including daylilies, daisies, thistle and a spectacular orange Asiatic lily that towers proudly over its neighbors. Any gardener knows the challenge of maintaining a thriving garden in the dog days of summer. Hocken adds zinnias, petunias and other brightly colored annuals as well as vermillion tithonia, or Mexican sunflower, stalwart annuals that enliven the garden when perennials flag. Sedums, asters and chrysanthemums stand ready to take center stage in the fall in addition to an unusual fall-blooming white iris. She has such a winning way with plants that I suspect the iris blooms in the fall just to please her!
We continued down Spring Street to the path that leads into the Parish Hall behind the church. The path is flanked by a tapestry of hostas, lady’s mantle, epimedium, pulmonaria and other shade-tolerant perennials. A mature redbud near the door reaches out over the path into the sun. Liberty-Laylin, who moved to Amherst in 2018 from Seattle and Tucson, maintains this garden with her husband. She said that when they took it over “it was nothing but ferns. We spent 3 years pulling them out.” Like Hocken, she grew up gardening. She said that her family had a hazelnut orchard in Washington State that she helped tend, along with her father’s garden. As she put it, “I grew up in the soil.”
Adjacent to the walkway is the Columbarium garden. A plaque indicates that the name columbarium comes from the Latin word for dove, a symbol of love and peace, and is a sacred space designed for the interment of the ashes of the deceased. It’s an intimate, sun-filled enclosure whose walls are lined with interment boxes. The space is quiet and private, a welcoming place for services and meditation. As Hocken explained, on Easter Eve, a small bonfire is lit in the center of the garden where the new Paschal (Easter) candle is lit before the twilight service.
The largest and most ambitious garden, known as the Garth (the Celtic word for garden), is behind the church. After the connector between the church and the parsonage was built in the late 1990s, a team of landscape architects from UMass came to design a new garden in a space that had consisted of only grass and a sloping hill. The Garth is thoughtfully laid out, a series of distinct spaces on three terraced levels. We entered onto a patio of herringbone-patterned brickwork. The space feels sheltered thanks to a gently curving stone retaining wall and a stately elm tree that partially shades it. A rustic table and chairs provide a cozy spot for reading or picnicking.
Beyond the patio, a brick walk leads onto a lawn surrounded by burgeoning perennial beds. Hocken proudly announced that she was married there in 1984. “We’d love to have more weddings here,” said Liberty-Laylin, adding that anyone can rent the space, provided they comply with the church regulations. (If you’re interested in renting the space for a wedding, contact the church office.) The upward slope is punctuated by a handsome stone terrace filled with roses, butterfly bushes and daylilies in all shades, from deepest orange to pale yellow.
“In regard to the spiritual aspect of our work, we still believe we can find some Eden places,” said Liberty-Laylin. “The parishioners are very complimentary and enjoy looking at beautiful creations. I strongly believe that we need to see peaceful places from inside and outside the church proper.” She said that the church gardens are appreciated by everyone. “I have heard compliments from people in the Town Hall parking lot and people walking by the church,” she said. “Sometimes people eat their lunches in the large garden.” The public can access the Garth by walking between the rear of the parish house and the new apartment building on Spring Street.
The Garden Ministry raises money by holding a plant and garden sale every other year. “These sales are our only funding source besides donations,” said Liberty-Laylin. This September they will be having a “Pots and Plants” sale of indoor plants for the returning students. She explained that “this idea came from several students that talked with us during the spring sale and said they would rather spend money on our items than at other local stores.”
Needless to say, maintaining these beautiful gardens takes a lot of work. There are 12 active members of the Garden Ministry, including five men. “The men are very helpful when it comes to moving gravel and heavy stones,” said Liberty-Laylin, while Hocken emphatically added that the men aren’t the only ones tackling heavy work. Liberty-Laylin said she schedules weeding sessions on Friday mornings and clean-up sessions as well as larger projects on Saturdays. Usually she can count on four to seven volunteers to pitch in. “Our largest project recently was pruning the large trees along Spring Street,” she said. “The Grace Church ministry just enjoys gardening together,” she added. Their labors of love are well worth the effort.
Mickey Rathbun is an Amherst-based writer. Her latest book, The Real Gatsby: George Gordon Moore, A Granddaughter’s Memoir, was published in 2024 by White River Press.