Sprightly Lily-of-the-Valley

Planting Guide for Spring

Mouth-watering strawberries should be planted now for delicious berries this summer. Plant them in a sunny, well-drained bed.

For blue hydrangeas, apply 1 tablespoon aluminum sulfate mixed in 1 gallon of water around mature plants this month.

Spring vegetables love cool, moist weather and don’t mind a little frost. Set out lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, and Swiss chard starts now. Rhubarb, the “pie plant,” can be planted now for mouth-watering pies for many years to come.

Lily-of-the-Valley

The lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) graces the shade garden with delicate, nodding, white, bell-shaped flowers each spring. A small, woodland perennial, it reappears annually around the time of spring festivals and Easter.

Native to cool temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, it forms extensive colonies by spreading underground roots called rhizomes, which send up numerous stems each spring. Growth buds along the rhizomes are called “pips.” The flowering stems grow 6 to 12 inches tall, rising from two light green leaves, and each holds 5 to 15 dainty flowers. The attractive leaves emerge in spring, followed by fragrant white bells that make a lovely cut flower. Its heavy, sweet fragrance is one of the most beautifully scented in the garden and has been used in perfumes for decades.

Lily-of-the-valley has a long history of medicinal uses but is poisonous if eaten. Several legends are associated with it, including one where the tears Mary shed at the cross turned into lilies-of-the-valley, earning it the name Our Lady’s tears. Other names include May lily, May bells, lily constancy, and ladder-to-heaven.

Growing Conditions

Lily-of-the-valley thrives in moist but well-drained soil enriched with compost or leaf mold. It benefits from a yearly application of leaf mold, peat moss, compost, or manure each fall. It grows in conditions ranging from filtered shade to deep shade, such as the north side of a building, and requires some winter cold to thrive.

• Plant pips 1½ inches below the soil surface and 4 to 6 inches apart.
• Water regularly during the growing season.
• Bait for snails and slugs to protect the plants.

Companion plants include grape hyacinths (Muscari), bleeding hearts, forget-me-nots, and hostas. Lily-of-the-valley is ideal as a carpet planting between camellias and rhododendrons, as it shares the same garden conditions.

Uses

The sweet fragrance and dainty white flowers make lily-of-the-valley popular for weddings. It can also be forced indoors in a pot, blooming in just 3 to 4 weeks to enjoy its sweet perfume. Requiring very little care, it rewards gardeners with sweet-smelling bell-shaped flowers every spring.