Michelle Styles:Gardening the time of the Ice Saints

Lockdown, stay at home, the time when the world went slow grinds on.

   In places you are starting to see baby steps towards restarting life. There are arguments on both sides and it is only in the next few years that we will even be able to tell which countries made the right decisions and which ones were either too cautious or too gung ho. It is the trouble when you live in interesting times — you can’t flip to the end of the book to see how it turns out.

Yellow magnolia

The one thing I do know is that Spring is coming on a pace in my garden. As the magnolias bloom, the perennials push their way through and the blossom grows fat on the fruit trees, I’m remind that life does go on. Things can be restarted.

Right now we are at a critical juncture for British gardeners - -the so-called Ice Saint days. The three days (11 -13 May) –St Boniface, St Pancras and St Servatius — are occasionally bring cold weather. St Sophia on the 15 May traditionally brings this period to an end. The period 12 -15 May is sometimes called the blackthorn winter time because it happens when the blacktorn is flowering.

Tree peony

Basically, it is when you are likely to get a hard frost and tender plants can be destroyed. It can also wreck havoc with fruit trees and tender vegetables.  But after this time, it is safer to put plants out as summer is coming.  The how long do you wait until you harden off the plants is something which is debated every year in this household.  However, I have developed my mantra  of not until all the ice saints are past. It seems to work.

Apple blossom in front of the hawthorn

All I know is that we are about to go into the full summer glory and the cold of winter, even with the final blast of the ice saints, will pass. And I have to believe the lockdown, COVID 19 and the longer term troubles will pass as well. But then I am a gardener and gardening is an optimistic thing, full of hope and trust. It is also very rewarding. And for anyone who thinks they don’t have green fingers, you don’t want to know the plants I have inadvertently killed. Sometimes, you have to be persistent and to believe.

In other news

Book 2 in the Sons of Sigurd Harper St George’s  Falling For Her Viking Captive  has been published. You can read the start  for free here.

The Viking warrior
In her cellar…
Lady Annis must stop Viking Rurik Sigurdsson from discovering the truth about his family’s death. Her only solution is to imprison him. But as the ruggedly handsome Viking starts to charm his way out of his cell and into her heart, can she be sure he’s not still intent on vengeance—or perhaps an unexpected alliance is the solution?

The preview of Book 3 – my Conveniently Wed to the Viking is now available here.

Strangers on the run
Now they must wed!
Sandulf, youngest of the famed Sigurdsson brothers, is on the trail of the assassin who murdered his family. On his way, he meets Scottish runaway Lady Ceanna, a prickly, wary woman trying to escape a forced marriage. Her beauty and courage make Sandulf realize there may be more at stake than his revenge… As the threat of her family follows them, there’s only one way to keep her safe—marriage!

Jenni Fletcher’s cover for book 4 has been revealed and I am really looking forward to reading it.

In writing news, I am waiting for my editor to get back to me on my latest Viking and I am working on another project in the mean time. One always to believe.

Stay safe. Until next month.

Michelle Styles writes warm, witty and intimate historical romances for Harlequin Historical in a wide range of time periods from Roman to Victorian but most recently Viking. Her next book Conveniently Wed to the Viking will be published in July 2020. You can read more about Michelle and her books at www.michellestyles.co.uk