HOW DID HER GARDEN GROW?
What are Silver Bells?
“Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow; With silver bells and cockleshells, all standing . . .” Wait a second here! With what? Silver bells and cockleshells? Has anyone besides Contrary Mary ever grown either of these plants? What are they?
A few people do grow Carolina (Halesia carolina) or two-wing silverbells (Halesia diptera). Both small trees are bedecked in spring with rosy or white flowers that hang from the branches like little bells.
Halesia diptera
I doubt that Mary was growing this plant, though, because she was British and silverbells are native to southeastern US. Not impossible, though, since silverbell trees were introduced into the UK in 1756, about the same time that the nursery ditty was first seen in print. Read more
