How inspiring is a simple garden! From a small, crusty seed, there emerges first a single shoot, and then a complex tangle of roots. From the roots, a complex vascular system transports moisture upward to the leaves (that’s xylem). From there, phloem (downward fluid) carries sugars produced during photosynthesis down the stem and into the parts of the plant.

God’s handiwork is indeed ingenious, but the part we humans enjoy most is the colorful flower, which attracts bees and produces seeds to ensure that the plant reproduces for a new generation.

Author and master gardener Margaret Rose Realy has a deep appreciation for nature’s beauty, and her books skillfully combine the task of planting and caring for God’s creation with her own heartfelt prayer. Her latest book, Planting with Prayer: The Catholic Gardening Handbook, shows landscapers — both experienced gardeners and those who are just learning the skill — how to develop a contemplative outdoor space.

Planting with Prayer starts at the beginning — helping the reader to discern his or her plan for the available space, and to select the gardening tools that will help to complete the job. Margaret helps to scope out the space, plan the best spot for garden seating, and consider a walkway, garden feature, color combinations and an anchor feature. She offers helpful advice on choosing the right plant for the right spot (shady or sun-filled?), assessing and enriching the soil, and selecting the tools that will best help the job at hand. If your space is limited, Margaret urges you to plant a container garden.

But Margaret’s real purpose in designing a garden is to create a place for prayer. What kind of objects, she asks, help to create a spiritual landscape for you? As an example, she notes that a rock, strong and unmoving, may feel strong and secure, while a blue gazing ball inspires contemplation, and tall grasses encourage openness.

As the reader grows in understanding of the prayer garden’s purpose, Margaret reflects on other elements of design such as color, texture, size, bloom cycle, fertilizing and composting. But then she incorporates many pages to be filled in by the home gardener. Here in the “Weekly Steps for Success,” the gardener can keep track of temperature fluctuations, rainfall, winds and the celestial sphere (levels of sunniness, cloudiness and pollution). We can track insects and other pests — noting when they arrived and how they were handled — and we can log in to record soil adjustments, adding fertilizer or a softer soil. And on each page, Margaret has included a “Prayer Focus” that will help gardeners to look back over the growing season, reflecting on the positive changes in our garden and in our spiritual life.

And of course, there’s room for a “Wish List” — a plan for those plants and flowers we’d like to add in the future.

“In Isaiah 45:18,” Margaret reminds us in Planting with Prayer, “we read of our God, the maker of the earth who established it not as an empty waste, but a thing to be lived in. He willed for us to live in the awareness of his presence through his creation, and not waste experiencing one of his many forms of love.” The garden, most certainly, is one of God’s gifts to us, one of his many forms of love.