The late Mr. Stokes developed a passionate interest in studying medieval religious names, symbolisms and uses of flowers, especially those associated with the Virgin Mary, and incorporating them into present-day religion and gardening. With a Philadelphia partner, Edward A.G. McTague, he founded "Mary's Gardens" in 1951. Through articles in Catholic publications, newsletters and the distribution of seed packets, he promoted the idea of gardens filled with plants specifically named in honor of the Virgin Mary, such as marigolds and the Madonna lily. He launched his own website, mgardens.org in late 1995, and devoted the rest of his years to adding his vast archives of flower photos, scholarly research and correspondence. This site has generated many thousands of inquiries, and fostered the creation of devotional gardens worldwide.

After the passing of John S. Stokes, Jr., his estate has been providing for the maintenance of the existing site, mgardens.org, through mid-Summer 2009, including handling emails sent to the above address, and for the subsequent migration of the original Mary's Gardens website to The Mary Page, the internet vehicle for public outreach associated with ML/IMRI. We will keep you posted on the progress of this move, which is already in progress.  The estate has also provided generous funds to cover the cost of moving the content and integrating it with our existing material related to the topic.

Mr. Stokes also provided for the transfer of all physical materials related to his Mary's Gardens project (books, notes, etc.) to our holdings.  It is our joy to receive these cherished gifts, to evaluate them, and to add them to the collection of The Marian Library.