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May: Flowers and Our Mother
May often is considered “the month of Mary” and the season of the beginning of new life, so we at NACMS plant this little thought to help you cultivate a deeper love of our Mother through nature.
The following material is taken from “Mary’s Flowers: Gardens, Legends & Meditations” by Vincenzina Krymow, with illustrations by A. Joseph Barrish, SM, and meditations by M. Jean Frisk.
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What is a Mary Garden?
A Mary Garden is a garden dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God. In a Mary Garden, which can be as small as a clay pot or as large as a city block, a statue of Mary is surrounded by herbs and flowers that have a special significance for her, through legends or naming. A Mary Garden can be formal or wild, sunny or shady, indoors or out. It can contain annuals and perennials, herbs, ground cover, and shrubs. It can be planted with bulbs to bloom in the early spring, plants that continue into the fall, and evergreens that give color in winter.
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Your Personal Mary Garden
The location, size, and soil of the site will determine what you can plant in an outdoor garden. After that, personal preference (and sometimes Divine Providence) can guide you. Because the Mary names of hundreds of flowers and herbs have survived, your garden can contain many of your favorite flowers, planted with the intention of honoring Mary and representing her many attributes.
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Plants for the First-Time Mary Gardener
John Stokes, cofounder of Mary’s Gardens Nursery, suggests the first-time Mary gardener select from the following list of well-known flowers that bear Mary names. The common name of each plant is in parentheses.
Annunciation Lily (Madonna lily)
Eyes of Mary (Forget-me-not)
Mary-Loves (English daisy)
Mary’s Crown (Bachelor’s-button)
Mary's Gold (Marigold)
Mary’s Humility (Violet)
Mary’s Prayer (Tulip)
Mary’s Rose (Rose)
Mary’s Shoes (Columbine)
Mary’s Star (Daffodil)
Mary’s Sword of Sorrow (Iris)
Mary’s Tears (Larkspur)
Mary’s Tears (Lily of the valley)
Mother Love (Patient Lucy)
Our Lady in the Shade (Love in a mist)
Our Lady’s Delight (Miniature pansy)
Our Lady’s Earrings (Garden balsam)
Our Lady’s Mantle (Common morning-glory)
Our Lady’s Pincushion (Sweet scabious)
Our Lady’s Praises (Common petunia)
The Virgin (Common zinnia)
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Blessing the Mary Garden
It is customary for Mary Gardens to be blessed, which often occurs on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption, or September 8, the Feast of the Nativity of Mary.
A Mary Garden Prayer
Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
As our hearts are raised to you in love and thanksgiving through the light, grace, fragrance and symbolism of these pure, blest, transfigured flowers of Our Lady--your direct creations, showing forth and sharing with us your divine goodness, beauty and truth--we commune with you in awe and rapture and pray that we and all our brothers and sisters may be opened to the fullness of the divine love of God and Neighbor, through which we are to transform the fallen world into the culminating earthly Peaceable Kingdom and Paradise, that all may be lifted up esplendent in the eternal New Heaven and New Earth of our Crucified and Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
+ Amen
(Blessing provided by http://www.mgardens.org/BAMG-MG.html - 4.)
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"Mary's Flowers: Gardens, Legends & Meditations"
by Vincenzina Krymow (Illustrations by A. Joseph Barrish, SM, and Meditations by M. Jean Frisk) ISBN: 0-86716-349-6
Bottom photograph by Robert Resing, SM
Material provided by North American Center for Marianist Studies
NACMS
4435 E. Patterson Road
Dayton, OH 45430-1083
Phone: 937/429-2521
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