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                                               Intro Mary Garden
Mary Gardens

Daniel J. Foley, Editor of Horticulture

The Herbarist, 1953


     More than a quarter of a century ago when I first began to
explore the plant realm, I remember a visit I made one warm
afternoon in June was to an old Salem garden where sweet William
and foxgloves, delphiniums and Canterbury bells, ferns and sweet
rocket and a host of other plants flourished in a series of
meandering borders.  The flower beds were edged with violets which
were kept trim and formal by reason of the "bobbing" or shearing
their owner gave them on several occasions through the summer
months.  I recall an espaliered peach tree which covered one side
of the old tool shed, but most of all I remember a figure of Our
Lady enshrined in a shady corner of the garden.  My inquisitiveness
got the better of me and I asked about the shrine.  The dear old
lady who tended the garden told me that she had dedicated her
garden to Mary and, somehow, the thought lingered with me.  At that
time I knew nothing of the tradition of the Mary Gardens of the
Middle Ages, but a few years later, while doing some research in
college, I discovered a host of ancient plant traditions associated
with the life of Our Lady.  When my old friend dedicated her garden
to Mary, I am sure that she was not aware of the fact that she was
reviving a Medieval tradition.

     During the past twenty years, in fact since the founding of
the Herb Society of America, there has been kindled in the hearts
of gardeners a new enthusiasm for the symbolism of plants.  And not
the least of those is the urge to know more of gardens and
gardening in the "age of faith."  Perhaps the most intrepid example
of the present fervor and devotion is a garden established in
Philadelphia in 1951 by John S. Stokes, Jr., and Edward A. McTague
(two young businessmen) called Mary's Gardens.  They distribute
seeds of the more familiar flowers associated with Our Lady and
carry on their labor of love as a non-profit enterprise in a most
extraordinarily spiritual fashion. It is truly refreshing to read
their letters and to sense some of the spiritual fire that kindles
their hearts in this confused atomic age filled with wars and
rumors of war.

     Another significant signpost that warms this writer's heart is
the recent publication of a monumental work entitled Plants of the
Bible, Waltham, Mass., Chronica Botanica, by Harold N. Moldenke and
Alma L. Moldenke.  The authors devoted more than 12 years of
research to their task, with the result that we now have a
carefully documented and most readable book to serve as inspiration
for all who would plant a Mary Garden.

     If we are to conjure up in our minds any concrete notions of
the Mary Gardens of Medieval times, we must turn to the wood cuts
and illuminated manuscripts of the period.  The contemporary
writings of the Venerable Bede and St. Augustine contain some
casual comments and the early herbals make reference to numerous
plants carrying Our Lady's name; but for specific notions of these
ancient gardens we must interpret the illustrations, many of which
were idealized and glorified by the artists who painted and drew
them.  It is only natural that they should have been embellished
greatly because these illustrations were expressions of devotion.

     The beauty of holiness symbolized by flowers was a living part
of the expression of the period.  Ecclesiastics like Bede referred
to the lily as the emblem of the Virgin with the petals symbolic of
bodily purity and the anthers typifying the beauty of her soul.
Augustine delighted in championing the daisy (probably Bellis
perennis), whose yellow center was the sun and whose ray petals
were purity and goodness.

     The acompanying illustration and the notes that accompany it
may well serve to convey something of the spirit of the deep-rooted
symbolism which was an integral part of Medieval life. . . .
                                                                       
.

Illustration by an unknown artist of the 15th century. Art Gallery,
Frankfort.

     Mary is seated in an enclosed garden surrounded by a
castellated wall.  Her crown is of leafy sprigs.  Nearby the child,
Jesus, is being taught to play a musical instrument.  At the right
St. Michael and St. George, in armor, and, conversing beneath the
vine-stock, a tiny ape-like devil is barely discernible.  Behind
Our Lady, irises, hollyhocks, marigolds and other flowers are
growing in a raised bed. Iris is the symbol of royal birth,
referring to Christ, descended from the house of David.  In the
foreground are daisies, lilies-of-the-valley, violets, cowslips and
strawberries.   A rose tree, cherries and apples are also featured.
Several birds are easily recognized. The atmosphere is a pleasant
one and the composition as a whole has an easy kind of lifelike
quality not always found in Medieval illustration.

Illustration by Courtesy of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.




     One of the early references to Mary Gardens is to be found in
An Introduction to the Obedientary and Manor Rolls of Norwich
Cathedral Priory by H. W. Saunders.  From this record we learn
that the Sacristan had "S. Mary's garden" and the "green garden"
and the cellarer rented the "little garden" or "garden within the
gates."

     Curiously enough, many of the plants which came to be
associated with Our Lady during the Middle Ages and the early
Renaissance had been known since before the dawn of Christianity
and their attributes were associated with pagan deities.  Thus
plants formerly associated with and considered sacred to Juno,
Venus and Diana of Greek mythology, Bertha and Freyia of
Scandinavian traditions were bestowed upon the Madonna.  If we
ponder the studies of the great humanist scholars and accept the
belief that the coming of Christ brought a new sense of values into
the world, then it is easy to understand how Christianity flung its
shadow over the entire vegetable kingdom.  In their ardor to stamp
out every vestige of heathen intelligence and thought, the early
fathers soon interpreted the folklore and the apparent associations
of heathen nature worship with the Christian tradition.  In every
corner of the Old World, the life and sufferings of Christ and the
everyday happenings of Mary and Joseph and the saints dominated the
thoughts and the beliefs of peasant and nobleman alike.  The Age of
Faith had made a deep imprint.

     The English writer Hepworth Dixon has caught the spirit of
this simple faith in these lines: "Hearing that the best years of
her youth and womanhood were spent, before she yet knew grief, on
this sunny hill and side slope, her feet being for ever among the
daisies, poppies and anemones, which grow everywhere about, we have
made her the patroness of all our flowers.  The Virgin is our rose
of Sharon, our lily of the valley.  The poetry no less than the
piety of Europe has ascribed to her the whole bloom and coloring of
the fields and hedges."

     However, after the turmoil and upheaval caused by the
Reformation, many of the folk names of plants previously associated
with the Holy Family were divested of their divine associations.
The dawn of secularism, in a large measure, cast a heavy shadow on
that feeling of devotion which had previously characterized the
Christian world.  Nonetheless, in many a village and hamlet in
Europe today the folk names associated with plants dedicated to Our
Lady are still in use.

     In making a Mary Garden today it would perhaps not be
practical to grow all the plants associated with the Madonna.  Some
are denizens of partial shade, others are weedy by nature and still
others are plants for special uses such as ground covers.  Soil
requirements and hardiness are also factors to be considered.  If
the garden maker wishes a traditional Medieval garden, a simple
knot patterm or a series or rectangular or square beds designed to
fit the area chosen would be most suitable.  Old grapevine
trimmings might be used to make a wattle with which to surround the
garden.  A suitable figure cast in metal or carved in stone or wood
might well be used as a focal point.  Many of the sweet-smelling
herbs of Medieval days could be mingled with the plants associated
with Mary. A well designed pool or a bird bath might be
incorporated if it could be adapted to the area for such a garden.