Maternal Instinct

You know Mother's Day is coming. Get her this.

ike pretty much everything good and pure in America, Mother’s Day started here, when Julia Ward Howe—who wrote the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and was married to the founder of the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown—appealed in 1870 that a day be set aside when no one could possibly come up with an excuse not to call or visit Mom. President Woodrow Wilson signed the idea into law in 1914, and Mother’s Day has been brightening the lives of florists, candy makers, and restaurateurs ever since. We here at MySecretBoston offer hundreds of imaginative ways to celebrate with Mom, of course, but here are a few failsafe secrets:

Gourmet Austrian-style chocolates, made with love
 

A cinematic candy store where you least expect it
 

A fine fragrance shop you really have to sniff out
 

Be good to Mom and Mother Nature. Buy her flowers from a garden center—in a former gas station
 

Pick up some designer duds at a secret sale just for Mom.