Go to Home Page
                                               Intro Mary Garden

Woods Hole Mary Garden

St. Joseph's Church, Woods Hole on Cape Cod, MA

Founded in 1932 by Frances Crane Lillie

Believed to be the first public Mary Garden in the U.S.

       .


1 Plant List and Planting Plan:

    a - Mrs. Lillie's original list of Flowers of Our Lady,
        Flowers of the Saints and Other Religious Flowers
        - taken largely from The Mary Calendar by Judith
        Smith, St. Dominic's Press, Ditchling, England, 1930

             - 1937 Revision

    b - Planting Plan #10, 1937, of landscape architect
        Dorothea K. Harrison, who developed the Garden for Mrs.
        Lillie from 1933 - 1937

          1 - Fully annotated Original Plan (reduced here,
              for the historic record, from larger size
              - only partly legible).
 
          2 - 1982 Adaptation with Plant List and numeric keys
              of plant locations, as posted at the Garden.
                   

2. Articles:

    a - Lillie Tower (1947)
        This article was the inspiration for us to learn of the
        Blessed Virgin Mary through her medieval flower symbols
        and to share this with others through the founding of
        Mary's Gardens in 1951.

    b - Cape Cod Shrine Mary Garden (1955)
        An account of the impact of our first visit to the Woods
        Hole Garden of Our Lady in 1949.

    c - Medieval Countryside in a Garden (1985)
        An examination of the horticultural challenge faced by
        founder, Frances Crane Lillie, and landscape architect
        Dorothea K. Harrison in developing the design of the
        Woods Hole Garden of Our Lady from 1932 through 1937
        (when it was destroyed by a hurricane and had to be
        planted all over again).
    
    d - Coming Mary Garden Jubilee (1981)
        An extensive review of the history and significance of
        the Woods Hole Garden of Our Lady in preparation for the 
        celebration of its 50th, Golden, Jubilee in 1982,
        including restoration of the 1937 planting plan.

    e - Mary Garden Jubilee (1982)
        A report of the actual Jubilee celebration, together with
        some further thoughts on the Garden as a sacramentally
        blest channel of grace.

    f - Paradise of Our Lady (1985)
        What the Garden came to mean to us after daily visits
        during two summers spent in Woods Hole.

    g - Garden Tour with photos (1998)
        Photos and descriptions of plants as seen in a walk through
        the garden.

3. Additional Photos