Moving Convallaria majalis/Lily of the valley

Jane McGary via pbs pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
Sun, 26 Apr 2020 18:09:57 PDT
A colony of a particularly good variegated form of Convallaria majalis 
(lily of the valley, muguet des bois) has sent stolons out into the 
adjavent lawn, where they are well up because the lawn service hasn't 
shown up for a long time. Does anyone know if the plants will survive if 
dug now, or will they just fail because of being disturbed at the wrong 
time of their growth cycle?

Plenty of plants in this family are coming into flower now. I 
particularly cherish a strong form of the former Smilacina racemosa, I 
think now called a Maianthemum. I spotted it in the neighbor's Christmas 
tree farm where I used to live and dug it up ahead of the herbicide 
sprayers. The western American form of this plant is more robust and has 
a larger inflorescence than the eastern American form, which is probably 
why the species hasn't become an important garden plant -- those who 
promote perennials may not be aware of the difference. In addition to 
its attractive form, it has a strong fragrance almost identical to that 
of lily of the valley.

Jane McGary, Portland, Oregon, USA


_______________________________________________
pbs mailing list
pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…


More information about the pbs mailing list