Convallaria – Lily of the Valley, May Bells
The poet has given the name to the Lily of the Valley, and the botanist, not as prosaic as usual, has translated the name to the Latin word Convallaria. “No flower amid the garden fairer grows Than the sweet Lily of the lowly vale.”
How to use
We must have this favorite with us year round. In the Winter the florist grows Lily of the Valley in the greenhouse for weddings and bouquets of various sorts. When they bloom in our gardens we cherish them as highly as any other flower for the lapel, the corsage, or for the small vase. In the garden, they grow in shady spots where some other flowers become pouty and will not grow.
GENERAL
The culture is of the simplest. Give them shade and enrich the soil with manure applied in the Fall as a mulch. They increase rapidly and need to be replanted every three or four years in order that large flowers may be obtained.
PROPAGATION
When old clumps are dug they naturally fall apart and no plant could be easier to propagate.
