Mary Garden (also called a Catholic Garden)
In medieval times there were hundreds of plants connected to legends about the life of the Virgin Mary because they saw parts of the flowers as closely resembling the articles for which they are named such as Our Lady’s slippers, her thimble, her keys, her teardrops, her nightcap and many more. The earliest reference to a Mary Garden is from the life of St. Fiacre, Irish patron saint of gardening, who planted one in the 7th Century. The first record of a flower actually named for Mary is that of St. Mary’s Gold or Marygold (Calendula) in a 1373 English recipe for a potion to ward off the plague.
A Mary Garden is designed to be a place of peace and beauty. The creation of the Mary Garden at Bolton Castle started with a single plant of Bethlehem Sage which was planted on Good Friday 2015.