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Intro Mary Garden
Mary Gardens
Bonnie Roberson
QUEEN Mar-Apr, 1977
While many devotees of Our Lady
are not gardeners, or attracted
to gardening, they, like so many
others, will be interested in
the early Christian custom of
growing 'Mary Gardens.' We know
from early English garden
history (Lady Cecil Amhurst),
that one was cultivated at
Norwich Priory in 1431 It was
called, "St. Mary's Garden."
Since there was no list of the
plants grown in this garden, we
can assume it was a well known
custom, this coupled with the
fact that garden books and
dictionaries of that period
listed hundreds of colloquial names that were associated with Our
Lady and the Saints. Several were named for God: Christ, and the
Holy Spirit.
Many of these names are still used. In Grigson's
'Englishman's Flora - 1958,' Mr. Grigson describes and lists some
150 of the 'Mary' plants including such names as, Our Lady's
Mantle, Mary's Gold, Virgin's Bower, Our Lady's Earrings, and some
150 other such names. The Saints were honored with 50 such names.
There were eight symbolic names for God and two for Christ.
It will prove interesting to delve into the reason for these
names. First of all, the early Christian was, for the most part,
one living close to the soil. His garden, fields and orchard were
the very source of his existence.
These early Christians were a devout and thankful people, and
in their gratitude they associated all lovely things with God, the
Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, the Blessed Virgin, Angels
and the Saints. But on Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who by her
human nature was more easily identified with their own humanity,
they lavished their choicest blossoms, for they stood in awe of
their Divine Creator. We find this same custom in names of the
varieties of plants today. (Note how many are named for women and
how few for men; for we associate flowers with the feminine: 'The
Rose in all her glory', 'The tree lifts her leafy arms to pray.')
As time went by, and plants were studied for their 'virtues,'
whole gardens were composed of healing herbs and lovely flowers,
and were enclosed within the larger garden and called St. Mary's
Garden; or in many places simply, 'Mary's Garden.' No harmful or
poison plants were allowed to grow in the Mary Garden, for these
were associated with the devil.
Proof of the widespread knowledge of the Christian symbolic
names is the long list of Tropical Christian plant names, for the
early missionaries taught Christian truths in the lands where they
were sent. A well known legend of the Passion Flower, wherein one
may see a resemblance to the Crucifixion, was one of the first
recorded instances of this custom. Soon the natives themselves
began to name plants for Our Lady: Queen of the Night (for they
used the word 'Queen' for Our Lady), Holy Ghost Orchid, Flor de
Santa Maria (one of the marigolds). Remember, the first name for
the plant we call Poinsettia was 'Flor de Nochee Buena' (Flower of
the Holy Night).
It was while documenting the tropical colloquial names that
the thought came to me of the many who had expressed the desire to
honor Our Lady with a garden but who were unable to do so because
of age, health, limited space and funds to have an outdoor garden.
I decided then that indoor gardens could be designed for these.
There was another group that was limited in the ability to have a
large outdoor garden - the blind. Many had expressed the wish
that they too might have a Mary Garden. So, the plants for them
could be fragrant - Rose, Geraniums, Herbs, and other plants of
interesting texture, such as Aloe.
It was a real challenge, but a joy to find that so many of
our common house plants were associated with Our Lady as well as
the Saints. Planters for different light conditions were built,
planters for the small space, hanging planters where there was no
table space, gardens designed using the new lights that can
produce lovely blooming, and foliage gardens with no light from
windows; terrariums that require very little care and which hold
moisture-loving plants and ceramic statues.
There were patio gardens and gardens designed for the window
planter, as well as the miniature 'saucer sized' Mary Garden. In
all my gardens I have used a statue or plaque of Our Lady. But if
these are not practical one can use a picture as the focal point.
In most instances I have used plants that are associated with a
statue, such as with Our Lady of Fatima, a Prayer Plant and Rosary
Vine would carry her message 'Pray the Rosary,' but this is not
always possible. The important thing is to have plants that have
'Mary Names' and the desire to honor Our Lady with God's gift of
beauty to man.
The history of the Mary Garden is comparatively new in
America, and it might be of interest to many to know the facts of
the present day renewal of this ancient Christian custom. The
first Mary Garden we have record of, though there may have been an
earlier one, is the one planted by Mrs. Frances Crane Lillie of
Woods Hole, Mass., at St. Joseph's Church in 1932. A leaflet 'Our
Lady in Her Garden' was written by Mrs. Lillie; her data was taken
from a book, 'The Mary Calendar' by Judith Smith, Ditching
(England) 1930. The story of this garden and the Angelus Tower was
a subject of an article by Father James J. Galvin, C.SS.R., in
Perpetual Help magazine, August 1946. This article came to the
attention of Edward A. McTague and John S. Stokes, Jr., of
Philadelphia. They visited this garden and were impressed with
the concept of such a loved renewal of this early Christian
custom. They asked, "Why not more of these gardens?" and found
the answer in the lack of information.
One unpublished paper by Mrs. Winifred Emerson, of Chicago,
done at the request of Mrs. Lillie, was the first list of 'Mary
Names' available. Then from old dictionaries, from flower lists
and plant lists, many new names were added. In the early research
in the Oxford dictionary, they found the information that plants
having the prefix of Lady, Lady's, Mary, Our Lady, Maiden, and
very often, May (which was an early English name for Mary),
referred to Mary, the Mother of Jesus; and these names were the
same in other languages, which proves that there is a universal
naming of plants for Our Lady. An example of this is Spearmint -
Lady's Mint; in French, Menthe Notre Dame.
My part in the Mary Garden was started in 1957, with the
study of the common names of herbs. Knowing that there were so
many, I in turn started a small garden with plants having
Christian names; then in 1958, after reading of the work of Mr.
Stokes and Mr. McTague, I wrote them for information. After much
correspondence, I began an extensive research programme.
In 1962 I was asked by the Herb Society of America to exhibit
a miniature in Washington, D.C. They had read of my work in The
Herb Grower magazine, and seeing a photo of the Mary Garden, they
insisted that I should display this. In the early spring of that
year, I shipped plants to Philadelphia where they were cared for
by a Mrs. Thomas, of the Herb Society, until the time of their
annual May meeting. At that time, I became a third 'Partner' of
the Mary Garden pilgrimage. Both Mr. Stokes and Mr. McTague were
impressed with my research and the number of people who had Mary
Gardens of their own because of my efforts.
I must admit here that we are a rural people, and have a very
special love for the soil. Telling others of the names of the
plants and showing them the reason for these names created in them
a desire to grow a garden of their own. Sweet scented herbs were
often called 'Sweet Mary,' from their fragrance; plants having
round leaves or flowers were called 'Our Lady's Mantle'; plants
having pin-like seed pods were 'Our Lady's Pins'; in their love
for all aspects of Our Lady's life, her clothing, her beauty and
purity were associated with resemblances of these things in plant
life. White was the emblem of her purity, hence, the Madonna Lily
became her special symbol; The Rose, Queen of flowers was
dedicated to her; flowers having the form of a slipper - 'Lady's
Slipper'; ruffled flowers - 'Our Lady's Ruffles.' Flowers that were
in bloom for her feast days were 'Annunciation Lily' and 'Candlemas
Flower.' The Snowdrop was 'Purification Flower.' There were
flowers for the Assumption and the Birthday of Mary.
Since there is a trend toward the specialized garden -
fragrance gardens, Rose gardens and even Shakespear gardens, not
to mention the herb and dye plant gardens - there is reason to
think that those devoted to Mary, the mother of Jesus, will be
happy to have gardens for her, 'The Queen of All Hearts.'
Reprinted with Permission