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You love gardening or you want to bring the beauty of your faith to your outdoor living areas but you’re not 100% sure how. You could easily add some statues of Catholic saints, but how can you make a meaningful prayer space in your backyard garden?

Hopefully, you find the solution to your Catholic prayer garden or are sparked with an idea while reading this. I’ve compiled several ways you can use your garden as a prayer space. This is a perfect way to enjoy prayer outdoors… and if you have these in the front yard you could be evangelizing to your neighbors without ever having to open your mouth!

Here are 7 Ways to Decorate Your Catholic Garden

1. Start with symbols

What are some things that are symbolic in our faith? Lilies are symbolic of purity, the Annunciation, and the Resurrection. You might also notice images of saints holding lilies too. St. Agatha and St. Thecla carry palm branches and if you have a special devotion to St. Therese of Lisieux, roses are the way to go since they are her signature flower! Check out our post on flowers to symbolize Mary in your garden.

Catholic prayer garden — Image sourced from Pinterest, stbridgeteastfalls.org

2. Make it Interactive

Make an interactive prayer space to walk the rosary through your garden. You can decorate the ground with stones to help you pray and meditate on the mysteries as you spend some peaceful time outside.

3. Have a Place to Sit

I know what you’re thinking… where are you going with this? Well, make or buy an outdoor pew bench! Here is an example of how to make a simple one, you hand person you! (Just make sure to use outdoor paint and outdoor fabric if you use/make cushions.) It actually doesn’t look all that hard, as long as you have all the right hardware and some time set aside!

Or purchase pews from an old parish when they replace them. I’ve seen this happen to a couple of parishes and it’s a great time to grab them! Keep an eye on parish bulletins or ask your parish secretary if he/she knows of any churches replacing their pews. You can also find some in secular stores sometimes, but they’re not often referred to as pews there.

4. Make a Shrine for Your Statues

It’s easy to put a simple statue in your garden and it’s set! But, why do that when you can create a full-on shrine for your favorite saint or create a mini-grotto for Mary in your own backyard? Use your imagination and check out these examples on my Pinterest board (Outdoor Catholic Decorating) to get your ideas flowing!

Stations of the cross outdoor decorations

5. Have Your Own Stations

Purchase your own outdoor stations of the cross and place them throughout your yard. Wouldn’t that be amazing to walk your own Stations of the Cross in your own garden at 3 p.m. throughout Lent? (Here’s the collection I found picture above.)

6. Make a Resurrection Garden

Making a Resurrection Garden is an awesome project to do with kids. Check out this DIY Resurrection Garden to do with kids and here is a grown-up version for you to do on a bigger scale. Be sure to close the tomb on Good Friday and open it again with a celebration on Easter. That would be a great time to plant your flowers around the tomb to celebrate that He is Risen! (Pin this idea for later)

7. Offer a Prayer Box

Have you ever seen those personal lending library boxes in the front yards of your neighbors? I love the library, but what if you could take it one step forward and make a prayer box for your neighbors? Create a little slot, offer paper and a pen and you’re set to go! Don’t forget to check your box and pray for your neighbors! What an act of beautiful charity!

I hope your creative juices are flowing! Check out the rest of my ideas on Catholic Decorating (indoors & outdoors) and follow us over on Pinterest! >>HERE<<

Updated 3/9/20

If you’ve ever considered planting a garden for Mary, you’ve probably looked at some pictures online and considered buying a statue of Mary, if you don’t already have one. But how do you decide which flowers to best decorate her garden with?

(Image courtesy of Fingalo, Wikipedia Commons. This post may contain affiliate links)

Here are 10 Flowers to Plant that Symbolize Mary that would be perfect in your garden!

Also Recommended >>> 7 Ways to Decorate your Catholic Garden as a Prayer Space

1. The White Lily “Annunciation Lily” symbolizes Mary’s Immaculate Purity.

2. The Violet symbolizes Mary’s humility “regarded by the Lord”.

3. The Monkshood “Our Lady’s Slipper” symbolizes Mary’s graceful Visitation trip to visit Elizabeth in the hill country: “All her steps were most beauteous.”

4. The Thistle-Down is also a Visitation symbol due to its graceful movement in the air.

5. The Rose symbolizes the Blessed Virgin of prophecy, “the Rose wherein the Divine Word was made incarnate.

6. The Daisy symbolizes “Mary’s Flower of God” (Jesus)

7. The Periwinkle represents the “Virgin Flower” and the blue color recalls her fullness of grace.

8. The Columbine represents the dove of the Holy Spirit, Mary’s overshadowing, indwelling, divine Spouse.

9. The Pansy symbolizes the Trinity (first revealed to Mary) and is also called the “Trinity Flower.”

10. The Everlasting symbolizes Mary’s eternal loving mediation in heaven.

Plus, a bonus (which isn’t exactly a flower) is the Strawberry which symbolizes the “Fruitful Virgin”, in flower and fruit at the same time.

Enjoy your gardening and get creative with faithful symbols! These are also great flowers to leave at the foot of the statue of Mary at your church!

Post last updated 3/9/20