STARTING A MARY GARDEN

 STARTING A MARY GARDEN

The Feast of the Assumption is the culmination of the month of August, a month dedicated to Our Lady under Her Immaculate Heart: “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Luke 2:19.
Ways of honouring Mary in the home include, naturally, praying the Rosary together as a family. Another supercharged way of prayer is to pray the Divine Office or the Liturgy of the Hours – the public prayer of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI said: “I would like to renew my call to everyone to pray the Psalms; to become accustomed to using the Liturgy of the Hours, Lauds, Vespers and Compline.”
(Wednesday Audience, November 16, 2011; see David Clayton and Leila Marie Lawler, “The Little Oratory, A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home,” Sophia Press, Manchester 2014).
The Marian Antiphon for this time of year is the “Salve Regina” and it is worth starting or continuing a family tradition of singing the antiphon at night after the evening meal.
As the Mass at the Assumption includes the blessing of herbs and flowers, as well as fruit, now is a good time to consider planting a “Mary Garden”, in honour of Our Lady. Prior to the reformation, Our Lady was so honoured in the general population that many flowers bore her name. In the years after the reformation, the reformers diligently changed many of the names. “Mary’s Flower of God”, or “Mary Love” is now called “the English Daisy”. “Mary’s Rose” is now called “Peony.” Morning Glory was called, “Our Lady’s Mantle” (but don’t plant that one!).
To plant a Mary Garden, the most obvious flower is the rose, and there are many beautiful roses with wonderful perfumes to choose from. The rose plants and all herbs plants, flowers such as Lavender and fruit trees ready for planting can be blessed on Assumption Day, ready for the Mary Garden.
The plantings can be random – herbs, vegetables and fruit, as well as flowers, or it can be done according to themes in the life of Our Lady and the Holy Family, as follows:
Bethlehem Star – Bellflower,
Epiphany Flower – Chrysanthemum,
Fig Tree – flight to Egypt,
Forget-me-not - Eyes of Mary,
Foxglove - Our Lady’s Gloves,
Fuschia - Christ’s Blood,
Geranium - Lady Beautiful,
Bluet (Houstonia Caerul)- Madonna’s Eyes,
Clematis- Virgin’s Bower,
Cowslip -Mary’s Keys,
Daffodil- Mary’s Star,
Assumption - Madonna Lily.
The garden, and its harvest, as well as its beauty, can then be a permanent tribute to the role of Our Lady in the life of the home.




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