John Stokes and Mary's Gardens
Mary Garden Rosary Walk
St. Joseph's Catholic Church Mary Garden Rosary Walk
– Carolyn O'Boyle, Newton, NC.
Jun 22 1998, Carolyn O'Boyle
Do you know where I can find a listing of flowers that would be appropriate in a Mary Garden, including the COLOR of the flowers. I have a copy of Mariana I, but the colors are not included. My sister and I are the caretakers of a large Mary garden at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Newton, NC. We are trying to limit the colors in the Mary garden to white and shades of red. It would be most helpful if you could direct me to an internet site that would include the colors of Mary's flowers.
Thank you for any assistance you can give.
Jun 22 1998, John Stokes, Mary's Gardens
Thank you for your message telling of your St. Joseph's Mary Garden, and inquiring about lists of Flowers of Our Lady showing their colors, so you can make selections for flowers in whites and shades of red.
We do not currently have a larger list of flowers giving the colors on our Mary's Gardens Internet web site, but we do have a "Garden Design and Plant Selection Guide" of some 80 flowers which I hope may be of some help to you.
I also suggest you take a look at "Parish Mary Garden Care", based on our experience helping set up parish Mary Gardens intended to last through the years.
As I write, I recall that we have a half-completed larger plant list giving flower colors. Your browser window or font size will have to be adjustd to display the 110 character line length.
If you wish I can send it as an e-mail attachment in Excel spreadsheet format as
FOL_GardeningBOTSS(98).xls
If we can be of further assistance, please email us.
Also, we would be interested in hearing more about your Mary Garden, and its use in the parish, with some photos when it is established.
Cordially,
Jun 22 1998, Carolyn
Thank you for your quick response. I am the supervisor of a very exciting garden project at St. Joseph's. My sister and I and our families recently relocated to North Carolina and began attending St. Josephs in January. At that time, there were no caretakers for the Mary Garden at the church so we volunteered to spruce it up. Over the following months, we were introduced to key members of the church, as well as other members who were donating plants, flowers, etc to the garden.
In May, Jerry Burke, the church accountant, gave my sister and I a copy of the Catholic Digest which contained an article on "The Flowers of Our Lady". He had noticed us working in the Mary Garden and thought the article might help us in choosing and/or eliminating flowers for the garden. Also in that booklet, was an article and picture of a "Rosary Walk". Jerry's idea was that we could use part of the church property for a rosary walk, using round stepping stones for the Hail Marys and square stones for the Our Fathers.
My husband works for Home Depot, who donated a very large 2-piece pond. An anonomous donor gave Father Gordon the funds to purchase the stepping stones, 2 benches and a large angel fountain. We picked up our shovels and set to work! That was about 6 weeks ago.
This past weekend, our church hosted a youth jamboree for middle school aged children. The jamboree included a "living rosary" with one child standing on each stone in the rosary walk, saying the appropriate prayer in turn. It was wonderful!
Our rosary walk is still in an embryonic stage compared to my vision of what it will be 2 or 3 years from now, but it is beautiful. There are 6 deep red rose bushes, white Madonna lilies, mums, red petunias, red begonias, burning bush, red camelias, white pieris, 3 purple daphne and so many more.
The pond has goldfish and tadpoles, as well as a collection of aquatic Mary flowers from your list. I would like to put 6 white rose bushes and some peonies in the spring, as well as other perennials, hence the need for a list by color. The Mariana I list on your web site has been invaluable to me.
I would love to take some pictures and send them to you when the garden is completed (at least for now) by the end of June.
Thanks again for your kind assistance and interest in our project.
The John Stokes and Mary's Garden collection was transferred to the Marian Library in May 2013. In addition to his archives, manuscripts, artwork, and personal library, John S. Stokes also donated his extensive website. It was transferred to the Marian Library in early 2010. This particular entry is archived content original to Stokes' Mary's Gardens website. It is possible that some text, hyperlinks, etc. are outdated.