Faith takes root

When visiting Claire Lichy's garden, never compliment her on her flowers. "They're not my flowers," she insists. "They're God's flowers. I'm just taking care of them."

Facing incapacitating health problems after complications from a 2003 surgery, Lichy found a sense of peace among those flowers. When she got back on her feet, she decided to share that experience with others. She created God's Gardens by Claire, which she opens to everything from garden clubs, to Bible study groups, to a recent concert that raised money for food shelves.

"After a visit, a woman wrote [in the comment book], 'I felt a oneness of God and nature here,'" Lichy said. "That's what I felt, and it's exactly what I want them to feel."

Her husband of 25 years, Lenny, a cabinetmaker, has contributed structures to the garden she has squeezed onto a ¾-acre lot behind her Champlin home, including several arbors, a miniature English cottage and a gazebo that doubles as a bandstand. Their 17-year-old daughter, Jamie, a two-time all-state musician, has recorded flute music that provides a soothing background without drowning out the chirping birds.

While Claire appreciates her family's help, she makes it clear to them that it's just help. It might be God's garden, but it's her passion.

"I wanted to be the only one doing the digging, hauling, designing and planting," she said while sitting in the gazebo. "My family knows I'm possessed, and they get out of the way."

It's a labor of love that's heavy on the labor.

It's also heavy on the love, she said: "When groups come through, I take them over to the daisies and say, 'You've all heard of that deal when you pull petals from a daisy and say: "He loves me, he loves me not." Well, with God, it's "He loves me, he loves me, he loves me." '"

Rock 'n' roses

Lichy, 56, did not set out to be a gardener. Rock 'n' roll was her thing. After graduating from Mound High School in 1972, she spent 20 years singing with various bands in Twin Cities bars, in the process meeting Lenny, who played guitar in one of the bands.

"I've always said that it's not fair to others that I had that much fun in those young years of my life," she said.

She also served as a warm-up act for stand-up comedians. She worked with Robert Klein, Jimmy Walker and a young up-and-comer named Steve Martin.

Not all the memories from that time are pleasant, however. She plugged into a lifestyle that, as she puts it, "wasn't very religious."

"Everybody screws up, but I was about as loose a screw as you're going to find," she said. "There are people who go around talking about how they messed up their lives, and someday I'd like to do that. But for now, I'm keeping it to myself."

She and Lenny finally decided that there was more to life than rock music. He started making cabinets, and she became a hairstylist. The birth of their daughter cemented their new priorities.

"Not too long after Jamie was born, I started singing at church," Claire said. Lenny often accompanies her on guitar.

An instant garden

"I had a little garden by the garage," she recalled. "Then one day about 15 years ago, I just went crazy. I came out and started digging up sod like a mad idiot. I broke three shovels."

She had a clear-cut goal.

"I wanted to be able to look out my kitchen window and see continuous color from spring through the first hard frost," she said. Being the type to research as energetically as she digs sod, "I knew I could do it. A lot of people think gardening stops on Aug. 31, but if you know which plants to use, you can get another eight weeks of gorgeous blooms."

Her gardening -- along with just about everything else in her life -- came to a painful halt on April 11, 2003, when abdominal surgery nicked several nerves leading to her back and damaged scar tissue from a previous operation.

"I already had two degenerative discs in my back," she said. "I was told that everything was OK, that it just had to heal. All the while, I had excruciating pain through my right side to my back. It felt as if someone stuck a spear in my stomach and rammed it all the way to my backbone."

It took 18 months, visits to seven specialists -- and a lot of praying -- before doctors figured out what was wrong.

"I've never experienced chronic pain, and my heart and prayers go out to all who have to live like that," she said. "I've always been a happy, positive person, but this tested every ounce of that and more."

It was while she was ailing that she discovered the therapeutic value of sitting amid her flowers. When she got healthy enough to resume gardening, she decided that all the digging, weeding and pruning could be put to a greater good.

"I was out here one day and I felt God tugging at my arm," she said. "It just hit me: This isn't about me; it's about God. I feel so grateful that he has given me this talent to make things pretty."

Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392