Growing the Ground We Pray On
Designated Giving for The Anchor House Gardens
The Anchor House labyrinth has been a place where our community walks its way into silence, into prayer, into the presence of God. This fall, that ground is about to deepen.
We're transforming the backyard of The Anchor House into two new sacred spaces — a Labyrinth Woodland Garden and a Butterfly Garden — designed in partnership with Go Native Landscaping to surround our contemplative practice with the quiet, living witness of native Texas plants, trees, and pollinators.
This is more than landscaping.
It's an invitation to let the land itself become a companion in prayer and habitat for the smallest of God's creatures who remind us that flourishing is always communal.
We invite you to be part of bringing this vision to life through a designated gift toward these gardens.
The Two Gardens
Labyrinth Woodland Garden
Ringing the labyrinth on both the northwest and southwest quadrants, this garden will plant native shade and understory trees, with crossvine climbing the fence line. Over time, these trees will mature into a canopy that frames the labyrinth in living stillness — deepening shade, changing light, and a sense of enclosure for those who come to walk and pray.
Because these are young trees, they'll need consistent watering through their first year of establishment — a tangible way your gift keeps giving long after planting day.
Recommended Trees
- Eastern red cedar
- Shumard oak
- Redbud - Eastern
- Southern wax myrtle
- Hercules club
- Viburnum
- Mexican plum
- Retama
- Buttonbush
- Parsley hawthron
- Deciduous holly
Butterfly Garden
Set in the open lawn beyond the woodland garden, this pollinator meadow is organized into four distinct quadrants that from a curved cross, with a shaded seating area beneath two garden arbors. It will be planted with a wide variety of native plants specially chosen by Go Native that will create a living palette drawing butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds throughout the growing season. Two arbor benches, one draped in native wisteria and one in crossvine, will offer quiet resting places within the garden itself.
Once established, these native plantings are largely self-sustaining — a garden that asks little and gives generously, season after season.
Recommended Plants
- Rock rose
- Blanketflower
- Fall aster
- Milkweed
- Wedelia
- Purple lovegrass
- Sideoats grama
- Sage - Mealy blue
- Seaside goldenrod
- Bee balm - lemon
- Coneflower - Texas
- Palafoxia - Rosy
- Texas prairie parsley
- Texas Iantana
- Flame Acanthus
- Hercules club
- Almond Verbena
- Lanceleaf coreopsis
- Liatris - Gayfeather
- Redbud - Eastern
- Hackberry - American
- Spicebush
- Common hoptree
- Frogfruit
- Opposite leaf spotflower
- Muhly - Gulf
- Knotroot bristlegrass
- Golden alexander
- Pink mint
- Narrowleaf Mountain Mint
- Mistflower - Blue
- Wisteria - Texas/American
- Crossvine
Ways to Give
Gifts of every size help this vision take root. Whether you're able to give toward a single tree, a cluster of native perennials, or the project broadly, your generosity becomes part of what future visitors will walk among, sit beneath, and pray within.
Tier 1
Folks who give at least $100 towards The Anchor House Gardens will receive
- Custom Center for Christian Spirituality Branded Reusable Tote Bag
Tier 2
Folks who give at least $500 towards The Anchor House Gardens will receive
- Custom Center for Christian Spirituality Branded Reusable Tote Bag
- Option to choose from a variety of native plants to be planted in your honor or in honor of someone else
Tier 3
Folks who give at least $1,000 towards The Anchor House Gardens will receive
- Custom Center for Christian Spirituality Branded Reusable Tote Bag
- Option to choose from a variety of native plants to be planted in your honor or in honor of someone else
- Custom Art Print for framing inspired by The Anchor House Gardens
Tier 4
Folks who give at least $2,000 towards The Anchor House Gardens will receive
- Custom Center for Christian Spirituality Branded Reusable Tote Bag
- Option to choose from a variety of native plants to be planted in your honor or in honor of someone else
- Custom Art Print for framing inspired by The Anchor House Gardens
- Option to choose from a variety of native trees to be planted in your honor or in honor of someone else.
"Let the field rejoice, and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy."
— Psalm 96:12
Thank you for helping us grow gardens that will hold silence, welcome pollinators, and deepen the ground beneath our shared contemplative life.