In the Bible (English Standard Version), Proverbs 4:9 describes Wisdom as: "She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown."
In the 1913 novel The Golden Road by Lucy M. Montgomery a "fading garland" is used as a metaphor for the evening of life or aging in general "[..] Did she realize in a flash of prescience that there was no earthly future for our sweet Cecily?