As discussed in Book II, there are a number of flowers associated with the Virgin Mary.  Flowers and herbs were named for Mary because of the color or shape of the bloom or foliage.  Some examples are Lady’s Mantle, whose leaves resemble a spread cloak; and lilies of the valley, whose flowers are tear-shaped and were thought to have sprung up at the foot of the cross where Mary wept.   Lilies of the valley also bloom in May – Mary’s month – so named because in pagan faiths May was associated with the Greek Artemis and the Roman Flora.  And, as the Romans crowned a statute of Flora with a garland of flowers on May 1, so a statue of Mary is crowned on this date.  This practice, common since the 16th Century, was formalized by Church rite in the 19th Century.  The Church adopting the month of May for Mary is the sort of re-branding discussed in the novel.

Other flowers are associated with the Virgin because their bloom time coincides with liturgical feasts days or because they were associated with specific religious sites.  An example of this latter category is the marigold (or Mary’s Gold).  In medieval times, the golden flowers of this plant were left as offerings at pilgrimage sites by pilgrims too poor to leave gold coins.

One of the earliest Mary Gardens planted in the U.S. was on Cape Cod, Massachusetts (St. Joseph’s Church in Woods Hole); this seaside garden is still maintained today.  Another lovely example of a Mary Garden may be found in Knock, Ireland.*

For those interested in further research, the library at the University of Dayton (a Marianist University) maintains the world’s largest research collection on the Virgin.  See also:  The Liturgy of Flowers in a Mary Garden by Andrea Florendo (2004).

* In 1873, 15 men, women and children over a period of two hours in the early evening (and in the pouring rain) saw a life-sized vision of the Blessed Mother (and saints) floating outside a gable wall of the Knock parish church in Ireland.  Six years later, a commission of enquiry found the testimony of the witnesses to the apparition credible.  In 1936, a second commission of enquiry was established to interview the three surviving witnesses (2 in Ireland, 1 in New York) .