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A Joseph Garden

A Joseph Garden

Seasonal Reflections

I was asked to share my thoughts on Mary Gardens. I never had a Mary Garden. I desired to have one but instead had to be content with having a Joseph Garden.

My father, an immigrant from Italy, would affirm my efforts to plant some flowers around our property but very few. He would remind me with kindness that you could not eat flowers, so we planted tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, zucchini, basil. The flowering tomato plants that lined neat rows numbered more than 50. The same was true of the pepper plants.  

Zucchini flowers were in fact edible, and when fried with an egg batter they were delicious. It took days to ready the soil using a pitchfork, since in those days tillers were not affordableand why use one if the family had seven strapping boys? 

We had a fig tree in our Joseph garden and each year it had to be wrapped and partially buried to prevent it from freezing. Today second and third generation Italians plant fig trees in large pots on wheels, and come winter, they simply wheel the plant into a heated garage.  

Mother Mary would have loved our Joseph garden, because she loved Joseph and how Joseph labored to provide for their Son, Jesusand how my father labored to provide for his seven sons, two daughters, and his own Mary. 


  • The second annual Mary Garden contest is sponsored by the Museum of Family Prayer. Photo entries are due by July 26, 2021. Prizes will be awarded. Helpful information and inspiration will be added to the contest webpage throughout the contest.

About Father Leo Polselli, C.S.C.

Father Leo Polselli, C.S.C. is Chaplain at the Father Peyton Center in Easton, MA. Before coming to Holy Cross Family Ministries he served as a teacher and a parish priest. He also served for six years as a General Assistant of the Congregation in Rome, Italy. Originally from Fall River, MA, Father Leo grew up with eight siblings. Gifted with several languages, he is able to serve the Brazilian, Cape Verdean, Portuguese, Spanish and Haitian communities. When he's not greeting everyone who comes to the Father Peyton Center, you can find him regularly reading newspapers!