The Biblical Garden

Posted on by Stephen Edwards

Elgin, Scotland

Scotland’s first garden of its kind, the Elgin Biblical Garden is a community garden focused on plants that are either spiritually symbolic or medicinal. The three-acre garden site opened up next door to the Elgin Cathedral in 1996 and includes many biblical stories in garden form, featuring either the exact plants or plants that illustrate a biblical scene.

The front of the garden features a statue featuring two biblical scriptures, one from Genesis 1 and the other from Isaiah 40. Traveling Troy also made an appearance.

A garden is a perfect way to highlight scripture. It is no mistake that one of the first locations featured in the Book of Genesis is a garden. It is also no mistake that many of Jesus’s parables featured plants. When the Elgin Biblical Garden began, the goal was to integrate the 4 Cs: “Community, Church, Commerce, and Council.” This integration still drives the garden 30 years later.

One scripture that was demonstrated but that did not use specific plants was Genesis 9:11-13. The biblical text reads, 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. (New International Version).

We found the garden completely by accident and only because we parked on the street beside the cathedral. When I pulled into a spot, I noticed the gardens and suggested that we should check them out. There is no cost to visit, so it seemed like a great opportunity to see what was available.

One plant often mentioned in the Bible is the fig tree. This link highlights many direct mentions of figs in Scripture.

The biblical stories and plants are ever-present, but even a non-believer could enjoy the gardens. For me, it was a pleasant walk to see what was available. A three-acre site can offer plenty of scenery, and while we spent maybe 20-25 minutes in the gardens, it would be easy to linger much longer in this peaceful, quiet place for reflection in Moray.

The tall reeds highlight Moses’ origin story in Exodus 2:3-10. Ultimately, the Hebrew baby was placed in a basket in the reeds beside the Nile River, and Pharaoh’s daughter ultimately found and named the boy Moses because she drew him out of the water.

I loved the gardens and was inspired to convince my faculty to incorporate some of these features into our own arboretum at home. Integrating religion with horticulture is a great way to teach both disciplines. Traveling is also a great way to discover these garden gems in communities worldwide.