A maple tree is growing in the middle of the exhibit hall. Eventually, that tree will be planted outside the Adriel School in West Liberty, Ohio.

The landscape display located next to the college and university booths also includes butterfly bushes and rose bushes; it sits next to a circle of 12 hickory rocking chairs for people to relax in.

The Communications Reference Council, which created the layout for the exhibit hall, provided funds for the living landscape. The council is made up of representatives from five organizations: Mennonite Education Agency, MMA, Mennonite Publishing Council, Mennonite Mission Network and Executive Leadership.

“We’re trying to bring a sense of cohesiveness,” said Ron Gingerich, art director for Executive Leadership. “We should be more about relationships than organizations.”

Gingerich said creating a display with living plants and bushes was a small, almost symbolic, way of bringing about environmental awareness.

“The idea of using a living landscape seemed to resonate with the convention theme,” Gingerich said. “Trees are life giving, oxygen producing and sheltering.”

Dutchman Hospitality loaned the 12 rocking chairs, which are available for purchase at $200 each. Each chair is handcrafted by an Amish family from Holmes County, Ohio.

Gingerich hired a landscaping company from Ohio, Winnscapes, to design the display, which is watered every other day. The company chose plants and bushes ideal for indoor conditions.

Coffman Stone, also an Ohio company, provided the concrete border for the display, which was designed in a half circle shape at the request of the Communications Reference Council.

The landscape display will find a new home on the grounds of Adriel, a child welfare school located in West Liberty, Ohio, after convention. Marty Lehman, Mennonite Church USA director of communication and development, knew the administration and staff from having worked there.

“It was something local we could support,” said Gingerich.