My little herb garden

Yesterday, I planted my Herb Mary Garden. Grandma Green Acres brought me these herbs last week: Rosemary, Thyme, Parsley, and Sage. It was a very good feeling to get my hands dirty and put some plants in the soil!

Mary Garden - Container

This is a simple Marian Shrine that my mom gave me a couple years ago. It was not made very sturdy, so I need to repair it every year. In our move, Mary's footrest was misplaced ... hopefully I'll be able to find it! However, it is on a stake and will work very well in a container Mary Garden. Perfect for me, as our yard is not ready for a garden of any sort that rests on or in the ground.

Mary Garden - Basilica of St. Mary

My youngest brother is engaged to be married in the Fall of this year at the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis, MN. We visited last year in August and attended Mass with my brother and his fiancee. My brother gave us a mini-tour of the building, which is beautiful and impressive. We didn't have time to walk around the Mary Garden, but I picked up a brochure to learn more. I would like to return in the summer and see the gardens when they are in summer bloom. These are some of the perennials that are included in the Basilica's Mary Garden... I'm always looking for inspiration and ideas!

Common Name - Marian Symbolism - Height

Lavender - Mary's Bouquet - 12"
Primrose - Our Lady's Frills - 6"
Lungwort - Mary's Milk - 12"
Thyme - Our Lady's Bedstraw - 2" ground cover
Sweet Violet - Our Lady's Modesty - 6"
Heartsease - Our Lady's Delight - 6"
Rosemary - Mary's Bouquet - 18"
Wood Anemone - Our Lady's Petticoat - 12"
Wind Anemone - Our Lady of the Snow - 15:
Lady Fern - Our Lady's Fern - 24"
Columbine - Our Lady's Purse - 12"-18"
Campanula - Our Lady's Thimble - 12"
Bleeding Heart - Our Lady's Sorrowing Heart - 12"-18"
Rue - Herb of Grace - 18"
Monkshood - Our Lady's Shoes - 36"
Foxglove Digitalis - Our Lady's Gloves - 36"
Hardy Geranium - Madonna's Pins - 30"
Nicotiania - Our Lady's Tree - 36"
Solomon's Seal - Our Lady's Signet - 30"

Above: Thyme

*Notice the herbs included in this list: Rosemary, Thyme, Lavender and Rue. I'm certain there are more herbs that have Marian Names (I'm planning to do more research and will post later). Herbs are wonderful container plants - that's a great dual purpose - honoring Mary and fresh herbs for cooking! Grandma Green Acres just brought over four herb plants - Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, & Parsley - this afternoon. I'm looking forward to planting them in a container that I'll keep on my back porch.

Above: Rosemary

Little Flower Quilt - Part 2

Yeah!!! They are done and they've been sold at the Cathedral of St. Mary Spring Celebration! The Little Flower quilts I posted about earlier in the year (say around February) turned out beautiful. Hopefully their new owners will enjoy them as much as the Little Flowers enjoyed making each square.







This is what the flower squares look like after washing. The edges are not interfaced, but are snipped about every 1/4". It creates a lot of texture and 'movement' on the quilt.

Mary Garden - Annuals

The following are annual flowers that can be used to start your Mary Garden. My favorites include snapdragons, sweet alyssum, and forget-me-nots. Grandma Green Acres likes to start seeds early and always has plenty to share. She's given me impatians, marigolds, zinnias, snapdragons, sweet alyssum, as well as many others. I use the annuals to fill in between perennials and give an all-summer-long splash of color.


Common Name, Religious Name, Plant Height
Cornflower, Mary's Crown, Medium Mid-Bed
Larkspur, Mary's Tears, Tall Rear
Morning Glory, Our Lady's Mantle, Tall Rear
Petunia, Our Lady's Praises, Low Border
Poppy, Christ's Blood, Medium Mid-Bed
Snapdragon, Infant Jesus' Shoes, Medium Mid-Bed
Zinnia, The Virgin, Medium Mid-Bed
Sweet Scabious, Mary's Pincushion, Medium Mid-Bed
Sweet Alyssum, Flower of the Cross, Low Border
Forget-me-not, Eyes of Mary, Low Border
Impatiens, Mother Love, Low Border
Marigold, Mary's Gold, Medium Mid-Bed

Many of these annuals work well in containers, so you don't need to dig a new spot in your yard to have a Mary Garden. Use an outdoor container that you already own or find a pretty container at a garage sale to save money. If you want a more immediate garden, buy a couple plants from the greenhouse. Plant the seeds or plants in your container and add an outdoor statue of Mary to create a Mary "container" Garden. If you don't have a statue, you can also use a laminated photo of Mary that is attached to a stake in the center of the container.

Pictured Above: Forget-Me-Not

Mary Gardens

Flower gardens are one of my favorite spring, summer, and fall hobbies. A number of years ago, I found a great list of flowers, both annuals and perennials, that have common names related to Mary. Establishing gardens out here on the farm may take me a few years, but you can be sure I'll be referring to my Marian flower list when I start planning.

Roses bushes are a staple in my gardens; and I especially like any Morden variety of rose bush. They are the hardiest I have found. I do no have to take any special care in the fall to ensure their survival to the next spring. Yes, I do trim back the dead canes in the spring, but I've never lost a Morden over winter. Someday I will have time to properly care for and maintain a tea rose in our climate, but I am not at that point in my life right now.


Gardens Give Mary Glory

These are the loveliest of her litanies,
These are gardens where the glad abounding earth
Still gush the Holy Spirit's primal mirth
In endlessly renewed diversities.

These from the faithful and fecund soil
Are generations that have called her blest,
They magnify her always without rest
While man's sad cyclic ages still uncoil.

They beat the perfumed air with noiseless sound,
They ring out her renown, freshly repeat
Her names taught them by men whose pulses beat
With God's great rhythm of the Seasons' round.

Each garden gives her glory, chants her praise
Even in harsh and hostile places where
Men have forgotten gentleness and prayer,
And what still canticles waft through their days.

Who plants a garden builds a carillon
To peal her praises witht he pulse of time,
And laud her with the earth's loveliest, lasting chime
In bright, unalterable antiphon.

-Liam Brophy