By January 27, winter has fully revealed its intentions.

The days are longer now, unmistakably so, yet the garden remains quiet. Nothing rushes into growth. Instead, this moment in the year asks a subtler question: what is carried forward when nothing is yet visible?

January 27 has long been associated with teaching, guidance, and the careful transmission of knowledge. Fittingly, it arrives at a point in the season when the garden, too, depends less on action and more on memory.

Learning Before Growth

In the Christian calendar, January 27 is marked by figures whose lives were devoted not to conquest or expansion, but to education, formation, and care.

Angela Merici, remembered as a founder and teacher, dedicated her work to guiding young people and shaping communities through patient instruction. Her presence on this date resonates strongly with the garden’s rhythm: late January is when the success of the coming season depends not on effort, but on what has already been learned.

Alongside her, Blessed Paul Joseph Nardini and Enrique de Ossó y Cercelló are also commemorated — figures associated with education, pastoral care, and the quiet strengthening of communities from within. Their shared theme is continuity through teaching rather than command.

In Monaco, Saint Devota is remembered as a protector, her legacy tied to safeguarding what is vulnerable — a concept deeply familiar to gardeners watching over dormant plants through winter’s final tests.

Words, Wisdom, and Winter Silence

January 27 also marks the translation of the relics of John Chrysostom, one of history’s most influential voices of teaching and interpretation. Known for clarity of language and depth of meaning, his remembrance on this day underscores the power of words carefully chosen and patiently shared.

In the garden, winter performs a similar function. With foliage gone and color reduced, structure and form speak more clearly. Branches teach where strength lies. Old stems show where past growth succeeded or failed. The garden instructs — if one is willing to listen.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Saint Sava of Serbia is also commemorated on January 27, remembered for organizing spiritual and cultural life through education and law. His legacy reinforces the same seasonal message: enduring systems are built through knowledge passed carefully from one generation to the next.

The Garden as a Classroom

At this point in the winter calendar, the garden becomes a place of study rather than labor.

This is the time to observe:

– How perennial plants protect their crowns. – Which shrubs hold buds closest to the stem. – Where last year’s growth left scars or strength.

These details are lessons. They shape pruning decisions, planting choices, and expectations long before the first tools are lifted.

Seeds of Understanding

January 27 reminds us that growth is never spontaneous.

Before shoots break soil, knowledge must take root. Before leaves unfold, patterns must be understood.

The figures remembered on this day — teachers, protectors, interpreters — mirror the garden’s own truth in late January. What survives and flourishes later is determined now, not by action, but by attention.

In the quiet of winter, the garden teaches. And those who learn well will recognize the lesson when spring finally arrives.