Chat & Photos

Serenity Garden

Apr 19, 2002, Vincenzina Krymow, Dayton, OH

The Serenity Pines Garden at the University of Dayton was dedicated
last fall and is a memorial to a former UD staff member.  I had
given a copy of "Mary's Flowers" to a woman from Woolpert Associates
which did the planning and building of the garden.  She seemed
excited about the possibility of a Mary Garden but I'd had no
feedback so this is wonderful news.

I arrived at the garden just as two groundskeepers arrived.  I
told one of them (turned out he was Roger Banks, in charge of all
the grounds) that I was looking for plants associated with Mary
and he said they all are!  He has a list in his office and will
send it to me c/o The Marian Library.

Some of the plants I found are holly, forget-me-not, coral bells,
clematis, Jerusalem Cowslip, hostas, Our Lady's Bedstraw,
Christmas Rose and Madonna lily.  There are dogwood, magnolia and
Carolina Silverbell trees (I'll have to check them for Marian
connections).  Only the forget-me-nots were in bloom.

Close to six of the plants are large smooth rocks, inscribed with
the common name and Mary name and an appropriate text.  For
clematis, Jerusalem Cowslip and Madonna lily the text is biblical;
for Our Lady's Bedstraw there's a short passage from the text in
"Mary's Flowers" and for the Christmas Rose and and Forget-me-Not
part of Sister Jean's meditations is inscribed.  They obviously
used the book for reference!  I don't remember seeing any reference
to this in any of the media reports of the garden - the focus was
on the dedication, the memorial and the "serenity" theme.

I'll bring my camera and take pictures when I come down on May 2.
Perhaps we could put something on the Mary Page.


Apr 19, 2002, John  Stokes, Mary's Gardens

Thanks for the cc of your message re. the University of Dayton
Serenity Garden.

There comes to mind the Mary's Gardens Exhibit I was asked to
bring up (with counter boards and burlap-covered panels on top of
my station wagon) to Dayton for a one-day U.D. display following
the Annual Liturgical Week Exhibit at Cincinnati in 1958.
While there's no direct cause and effect, I'm pleased at the
continuity.

  

One of the interesting "coincidences" of the Mary's Gardens
project is that major Mary Gardens have shown up years later at
places I passed through, spent time at, or had exhibits:
Annapolis, Knock, Kalamazoo (Portage) . . . Dayton.  And your
book, years after my two years working for Procter & Gamble
(Crisco Department foreman), and the Liturgical Week exhibit, in
Cincinnati.  Striking plantings of flowers have shown up beside
the two urban locations I moved to after my industrial and
suburban/rural retirement.

I hope you can get the full particulars on the Serenity Garden -
photos, plant list, planting plan - for display on the Mary Page
and/or our website.  Also, maybe some anecdotal and/or human
interest aspects.

The large smooth rocks you describe with inscriptions of the Mary
Flower names, and appropriate biblical and other texts is a most
important innovation.  What kind of rocks are they?  How were
these inscriptions made?  It would be useful to share the details
with others on our website.  Can you take some close-up photos of
these during your planned May 2 visit? 

One of the problems with conventional plant "markers" stuck in the
ground is that they are impermanent and frequently disappear in a
few years after a Mary Garden has been started and the founders
may have moved on. This happened at Woods Hole, although restored
with the restored planting by Jane McLaughlin in 1982; and now I'm
told they are gone at knock.  As you know, some very substantial
wooden markers are used at Annapolis, which have endured since the
Mary Garden was established in 1989.

In my article, "Flowers and Stones" about the Mary's Garden at the
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Concepton in
Washington, I pointed out the importance of stones in establishing
the permanence of Mary Gardens - of the stone pools, terraces and
their inscriptions there, and of the Stone Angelus Tower of St.
Joseph's Church in Woods Hole, by which the Garden of Our Lady is
planted.