Mid-February carries a tension between restraint and awakening. February 13 sits close to the old Roman observance of Faunus, a deity associated with forests, fields, fertility, and untamed landscapes. Long before modern horticulture, farmers recognized that beneath winter’s quiet surface, vitality persisted.
Faunus represents the unmanaged force of growth — the instinctive surge that pushes sap upward and coaxes seeds toward light. In contemporary gardening terms, this is the reminder that biological momentum never fully stops.
In the Roman agrarian calendar, observances connected to Faunus were not abstract rituals but practical acts tied to land management. Herds were symbolically purified. Fields were ritually marked and protected. Boundaries between cultivated land and wilderness were acknowledged rather than erased.
Faunus embodied the liminal space — the edge of the forest, the grazing meadow, the orchard border where wild and tended growth meet. For growers, this boundary still matters. Hedgerows shelter beneficial insects. Unmanaged strips protect soil life. Pollinators depend on what is not fully controlled.
Seen this way, February 13 is less about mythology and more about ecological awareness. The ancient reverence for Faunus reminds modern gardeners that fertility does not originate in cultivation alone, but in the wider living system that surrounds and sustains the cultivated plot.
Seasonal Reflections in the Garden
By February 13, experienced growers begin balancing instinct with intention.
– Dormant pruning continues where conditions are stable
– Overgrown shrubs are assessed for structural correction
– Wildlife activity is monitored along hedgerows and orchard edges
– Compost systems are evaluated for early activation
– Plans for crop rotation are refined with last season’s results in mind
Wild growth will come soon enough. The question is how it will be guided.
Between Wilderness and Cultivation
Gardening has always existed between two poles: the untamed and the ordered. Too much control weakens resilience. Too little oversight invites imbalance.
February 13 encourages a steady hand.
Allow natural systems to build strength beneath the soil.
Intervene where structure, airflow, or plant health requires correction.
Prepare without forcing.
The coming season is shaped not by urgency, but by balance.
