In a Vase on Monday: The Ice Saints

We have sunshine and blue skies, but everything is on hold here at the moment: annuals and vegetables grown from seed need to be planted out, other annuals need to be sown directly into the garden, a couple of new shrubs need planting out, beans need sowing, etc, etc. But the strong winds and cold nights are making me wait. The perennials are unperturbed, however, and there is plenty of colour already…

This week should be our last frost date, traditionally observed at least since the 16th century (when the ‘Little Ice Age’ began) with the saints days between May 12th and 15th: St Pancras, Saint Servatius, Saint Boniface and the Saint Sophia – ‘the cold Sophie‘ as she is called here. All of these saints collectively are called the ‘Ice Saints’ (Eisheilige). And we did in fact have a white frost at the weekend, with more very low temperatures forecast for the nights until the end of the week. The irony is, the daytime temperatures are lovely and warm! Hopefully by next weekend I can finally breathe out and get planting!

In the meantime I decided to bring in a bit of that colour I am enjoying to fill a vase for ‘In a Vase on Monday’.

Cathy at Rambling in the Garden hosts this wonderful weekly meme, so do go and visit her to see what she has this week.

Aquilegias, Geums (name tag lost but possibly Fireball), an early Geranium, chive flowers…

Orange wallflowers I sowed last year, bronze Physocarpus foliage, Euphorbia polychroma, Pulsatilla seedheads and a lovely yellow Geum – ‘Tales of Hex’. (Another strange name!)

I added a few harebells from the meadow too…

We have seen hares again for the first time in weeks, which is why I added the Harebells and chose this pretty jug for my flowers today.

I will be monitoring the thermometer closely until the end of the month as changes in the calendar in the late 16th century mean that these original last frost dates are actually a week later… The only thing I can get done this week I suppose is some weeding….

Wishing you and your gardens the perfect weather this week! Happy Gardening!