Where's Waldo?

If you have a small child in your life, you’ve probably played “Where’s Waldo?” If you haven’t, Waldo is a geeky-looking cartoon kid in a red-and-white striped sweater; his creators hide him in pictures crammed with objects and other people, and the goal of the game is to pick him out from the background. This is harder than you would expect, given his bright clothing; the makers of the puzzles use great ingenuity to ensure that Waldo blends into his surroundings like a human chameleon.

I’m sure the people who landscaped the grounds of our church didn’t originally intend to make it into an architectural version of Waldo, but many of our trees and bushes were planted too close to the sidewalks and to each other, and over the years they have grown into what amounts to living camouflage for the building. Here’s a photo I took last year of the north side of the exterior:

Not exactly friendly and welcoming, is it? In fact, it bears a striking resemblance to the enchanted hedge of thorns grown to prevent anyone from rescuing Sleeping Beauty.

In addition, that foliage barrier has been costing us a lot of money. The obvious expense is the water to keep it alive, but we’ve also been paying hundreds of dollars every month to trim the bushes and blow away the clippings. This sets up a vicious (and expensive) cycle. When the plants are trimmed, they lose moisture from their cut ends. To compensate for that, they drink more water. We end up overwatering to keep them from dying. In response, they grow faster than ever – and we trim them again.

The “Saturday guys” have been urging us for a long time to get rid of some of this living clutter. The University of Life attendees who saw the Adam Hamilton DVD on creating a welcoming atmosphere also pointed out that a church which hides its front door is not going to attract hordes of new members. However, we didn’t want to start randomly hacking at the plants; we needed a plan.

Enter Kris Coates, Master Gardener, Certified Arborist, and Certified Desert Landscaper. Kris was introduced to us by Zane and Martha Porter, and has volunteered to identify which of our plants should be saved and which should go. She has already overseen the removal of the jungle on the north side of the building, and working with a donation earmarked for landscaping, has drawn up a new and improved plan for that area that will save water and dramatically cut the need for maintenance. You’ll get the chance to see and ask questions about her plan at the July 12 Appreciating Our Campus Appreciative Inquiry session. In the meantime, we can finally see our Waldo – or at least our north wall:

I’ve been taking photos of the building from that angle for two years and didn’t know the wall sloped inward; did you?

Even without new plants, our church campus is now a much cleaner-looking and more inviting place, thanks to Kris. Be sure to attend the July 12 AI summit, and meet her in person!

~Beth Mabee