Creating a St. Therese "Little Flower" Garden

"I still feel the profound and poetic impressions that were born in my soul at the sight of fields enameled with cornflowers and all types of wildflowers. Already I was in love with the wide open spaces. Space and the gigantic fir trees, the branches sweeping down to the ground, left in my heart an impression…" From Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux
 
In Search for the Hidden Garden: A Discovery with Saint Therese, I wanted to plant the landscape where the characters have their adventure with some of Therese's most favorite symbols. A dream I have is to bring some of these into my own garden. One of the easiest would be to paint a symbol on a white stone.
 
Here are some garden flowers, trees, and decorations that Therese mentions in her autobiography. You can consider adding these to your own green space, even a potted plant on a desk, a container garden, or a backyard:

• Little white flower: Therese's father gave her a little white flower on the day she told him of her wish to enter Carmel. He told her how much God cared in bringing it into the world and preserving it.
• Cornflowers
• Fir trees
• Roses
• Daisies
• Lilies
• Apricots
• Flowers in the shade of a cross
• White stone: Therese quotes Revelation 2:17 in her autobiography, "there are deep spiritual thoughts which cannot be expressed in human language… similar to… 'the white stone I will give to him who conquers, with a name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.'"
• Birds' nests
• A swing
• A statue of Mary
• Old trees
• Snow: Therese always loved snow, especially as a symbol of her January birthday. What about a paper snowflake?

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