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SIMPLY DIVINE

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date06 April 2024
Publication titleHuddersfield Daily Examiner
One of them is lily of the valley

You'll find pots of this little beauty in nurseries and garden centres right now, with bright green scrolls of leaves just beginning to unfurl from the compost. At the centre of these leaf scrolls a fragile-looking flower stem will eventually arise, with tiny white bells along its length.

And the perfume! It really is mesmerising. The blooms open in April and May and are a welcome addition to any garden, not just those around picture-book thatched cottages. The plant's botanical name is Convallaria majalis, and it has been a staple of many a cottage garden since time immemorial.

The shoots emerge from rhizomes (underground stems) that snuggle just below the surface of the soil, and, for some obscure reason, in the bud stage they are always referred to as "pips".

Lily of the valley is useful as ground cover in shady spots.

It prefers dappled shade but, in extreme circumstances, it will put up with quite heavy gloom, though its flowering capability will fall off a little if conditions are too dingy.

Whether you garden on acid or alkaline soil, heavy or light, this plant really does not seem to mind, and I have even seen it romping away in dry, impoverished earth at the foot of a house wall. If you enjoy cutting flowers for the house, yet always feel guilty at robbing the garden...

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