Creation care in full bloom
As any gardener knows, sometimes it takes many seasons to see an idea come into its fullness. In March 2025, Iver Iverson, Jeanne Iverson, Christi Bystedt, and Gary Bebeau met to discuss the possibility of creating a pollinator garden on the west lawn of the Bethlehem Minneapolis campus. They reached out to landscape architect Ann Duering (Minnetonka campus) to learn what they’d need to make that idea a sustainable reality: what cleanup would be needed to prepare the site; which plants to select; what kind of infrastructure would be needed to keep the garden healthy; and how to design it in such a way that would respect the spatial needs of youth and family gatherings on the west lawn.
Their grant request for $4,000 was approved by the Foundation in October of 2025. By the early spring of 2026, they were hard at work ordering plants, recruiting volunteers, and laying the metaphorical and literal groundwork for a space of beauty, abundance, and vitality. Now in full blazing glory, the West Lawn Pollinator garden features more than 450 native plants and is host to migrating birds, butterflies, pollinating insects of all kinds, and other wildlife.
Reflecting on the experience, Christi Bystedt says, “The garden is beautiful, but we have God to thank for that. This has been about creation care, service, community, and what we learn about ourselves and the world through a project such as a pollinator garden.”
You can learn more about this journey through an article written by Iver Iverson scheduled for the September “TOGETHER Newsletter.”