Gardens and flowers in tarot

The garden is paradise in miniature: Eden in Genesis, the enclosed garden of the Song of Songs, the walled garden of the Virgin in medieval art. Smith's gardens include the roses and lilies of the Magician, the Empress's grain and trees, the Eden of the Lovers, the walled garden of the Sun, the hedge and archway of the Ace of Pentacles and the vineyard of the Nine of Pentacles. In readings a garden is something cultivated: effort and nature working together, beauty that needs tending. Notice whether it is open or walled, and who is inside.

Cards that show gardens and flowers

The Magician
The Magician: The roses and lilies
Red roses and white lilies grow in front of the table, and a garland of roses hangs from the top of the card. Roses stand for desire, lilies for purity. Waite says these wild flowers are 'changed into garden flowers', aspiration cultivated by effort.
Strength
Strength: The flowers in her hair
Leaves and small flowers are woven through her hair. Like the garland, they tie her to growth and the natural world: her strength is a living, cultivated kind, not the hardness of armour.
Temperance
Temperance: The yellow irises
Two yellow irises bloom among tall green leaves on the right. The iris is named after the Greek messenger goddess of the rainbow, and many readers see a connection with the angel as a go-between.
The Sun
The Sun: The wreath and red feather
The child wears a garland of small flowers with a single red feather standing up from it, the same kind of feather that the Fool wears. It links the beginning of the Major Arcana with its sunniest card: innocence returning with experience behind it.
Four of Wands
Four of Wands: The garlanded wands
Four upright wands hold up a thick garland of leaves, red flowers and fruit, tied with red ribbons. The shape is a gateway or canopy, like those raised for weddings and harvest festivals: a structure built for celebration.
Ace of Cups
Ace of Cups: The pond and water-lilies
At the bottom a calm blue pond is covered with green pads and small red-pink lilies. The streams land in still water: feeling that has somewhere to settle, and growth rooted in the emotional depths.
Two of Cups
Two of Cups: The man's garland and tunic
He wears a garland of red flowers and a short yellow tunic covered with dark green and black shapes, with white sleeves and turned-down boots. The flowers and warm colours give his side of the meeting its ardour.
Three of Cups
Three of Cups: The harvest at their feet
The ground is strewn with orange fruit among leaves on the left and a pumpkin and grapes on the right. It shows the scene as a harvest celebration: joy that follows growth and work, not luck alone.
Six of Cups
Six of Cups: The cup of flowers
The cup he holds out is filled with green leaves and a white five-petalled flower. A cup of flowers rather than wine turns the suit's vessel of feeling into a gift of pure goodwill.
Page of Cups
Page of Cups: The lotus tunic
His blue tunic is printed with pink flowers that resemble lotuses or water-lilies, growing in rows like plants in water. The flowers tie him to the water of his suit and to gentle, unfolding growth.
Ace of Pentacles
Ace of Pentacles: The white lilies
Tall white lilies grow along the left side of the garden. Lilies traditionally carry purity of intention, and here they suggest that the gift is clean: material reward without corruption attached.
Seven of Pentacles
Seven of Pentacles: The plant with six pentacles
A dense green plant with large leaves and curling tendrils rises on the left, with six pentacles set among the leaves like ripening fruit. It is the clearest image in the suit of value as something cultivated over time.
Nine of Pentacles
Nine of Pentacles: The grapes and vines
Heavy bunches of purple grapes hang on vines all around her and spill into the foreground. Grapes are an old image of abundance and ripened effort: fruit that takes years of tending before the harvest.
Page of Pentacles
Page of Pentacles: The flowering meadow
He stands on a grassy slope dotted with small red and yellow flowers. The ground is fertile and fresh, a place where things can begin.
Queen of Pentacles
Queen of Pentacles: The arch of roses
Rose-covered branches curve across the top of the card and down one side, framing her like a bower. Roses traditionally carry love and beauty; here they show that her world is cultivated and full of flowering things.