Favorite Flowers of our Lady today

                                        HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA MARY!! 

Scores of flowering plants associated with Our Lady, particularly in the middle ages, have given gardeners all over America a fresh idea for a very special kind of garden. Mary Gardens, little plots or large ones, where there might be a suitable place for a statue of Mary surrounded with plants are pleasant to contemplate and plan these bright May days.
Our Lady's slippers, her thimble, her keys, her looking glass, her tresses, her teardrops, her nightcap and a host of others were symbolized in the wild and garden flowers of Europe in the great "Age of Faith." These symbols were very real to our medieval ancestors, because the parts of the flowers closely resemble the articles for which they are named.

Favorite Flowers Of Our Lady Today

If an attempt were made to assemble all the plants associated with Our Lady, the list would run to several hundred. However, many of these favorites of the European countryside are by their very nature unadapted to present-day gardens. Some of them would fit nicely in a woodland planting, were space available. But for the small plots which most of us cultivate, gardeners must choose those best adapted to the home garden.

Soil requirements, the amount of sunlight available and the types of plants, including annuals, perennials and shrubs, must be considered first.

Here is are some easy to grow plants which can well provide the start for a Mary Garden.

Lily-of-the-valley (Our Lady's Tears)
Cyclamen (Our Lady's Little Ladles)
Morning-glories (Our Lady's Mantle)
Spearmint (Mary's Mint)
Bethlehem sage (Our Lady's Milk Drops)
Rosemary (Rose of Mary)
Pansies (Our Lady's Delight)
Roses (Emblem of Mary, the Mystical Rose)
English daisies (Mary-loves)
Forget-me-nots (Eyes of Mary)
Marigolds (Mary's Gold)
Canterbury bells (Our Lady's Night Cap)
Scabiosa (Mary's Pincushion)
Sweet William (Mary's Tuft)
Columbine (Our Lady's Shoes)
Foxgloves (Our Lady's Gloves)
Meadow rue (Our Lady of the Meadow)
Peonies (Mary's Rose)
White Plantain Lily (Assumption Lily )
Fuchsia (Our Lady's Eardrops)
Hollyhock (St. Joseph's Staff)
Petunias (Our Lady's Praises)

source: Catholicculture.org