"Mary plants" are flowers, herbs and other plants named after Mary or associated with her by legend.  Many of the Mary names - Mary's Gold, Madonna Lily, Eyes of Mary, Mary's Delight, Mary's Bedstraw and The Virgin's Humility - have come to us from the Middle Ages, when Mary was called the "Flower of Flowers" and names and legends linked plants and herbs with events in Mary's life.

Mary Gardens, dedicated to Mary and honoring her with flowers and plants named after her, are spiritual places encouraging reflection and meditation on Mary and her son, Jesus.

In this country, Mary Gardens developed after Frances Crane Lillie established the first one at St. Joseph's Church in Woods Hole on Cape Cod in 1932 [see right].  Since that time Mary Gardens have been created by many churches in this country and elsewhere, as well as by private persons.  On June 10, 2000, Mary's Garden of Prayer was dedicated at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

For further information, see Mary's Flowers: Gardens, Legends and Meditations, by Vincenzina Krymow, with illustrations by A. Joseph Barrish, S.M., and meditations by M. Jean Jean Frisk (St. Anothony Messenger Press, 1999) or check the Mary's Gardens website at www.mgardens.org

Return to Mary Gardens
Return to The Mary Page

This page, maintained by The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute, Dayton, Ohio 45469-1390, and created by Kelly Bodner was last modified Tuesday, 28-August-2006 by Kelly Bodner. Please send any comments to Johann.Roten@udayton.edu.

URL for this page is http://www.udayton.edu/mary/aboutmaryplants1.htm