Looking for information on the veracity of the Ice Saints, I just came across this page of very interesting comments…
The thing is, I bought 6 great honeysuckles last week that I have to plant at the base of an arch.
Not really liking to leave plants in their pot for a long time because they tend to deteriorate quickly despite watering and food, I told myself that I was going to plant them soon and there, bam, TV, newspapers , people start talking about the famous Ice Saints.
I come from a long line of home gardeners. My grandfather, my great-uncle, my great-aunt and many others before them planted everything. Normal, in their time, no supermarkets! And everything worked for them.
So I have at home a rosebush of about 70 years old which is a marvel, an immense lime tree of the same age and a splendid peony which is also around this decade. Apart from pruning the lime tree a little, removing the faded flowers from the peony and cutting it back in September and removing the faded flowers from the rosebush, I don’t do anything else.
I have been gardening for over 10 years. Green thumb or not, I don’t know, but I’m lucky that everything has worked out for me so far. And the only things I trust are the weather, the regional climate (I’m in Burgundy, so trying to plant a lemon tree in the ground would directly kill the plant), and the style of soil I have. I never took into account the moon or the Ice Saints. I tend to garden instinctively too and I even think that if I tried to control everything and take into account I don’t know how many parameters, it might work less.
Despite everything, in doubt, I telephoned the adviser of the garden center (excellent adviser, a real gardener, not just a plant salesman) who answered me “You have, the Saints of ice, it’s like gardening with the moon, it’s a story of belief, not reality”. He also told me that with global warming, the frosts we have are less than those we had 50 years ago. Which seems quite logical to me.
I have no doubt that there was a time when sayings really had a use. People not having at the time the modern means that we have today. These days, I believe that sayings are more of a “placebo” than real data to trust. Simple personal opinion, of course. People comfort themselves in the idea that following the saying of gardening will indeed be a guarantee of success. However, nothing proves it… But after all, so much the better if belief gives results!
I have nothing against sayings, they are part of a tradition that I love. Afterwards, trusting them completely, I won’t.