Lily of the Valley

I wish I had an actual photograph of Lily of the Valley to share with you but since I live in a climate that is inhospitable to convallaria majalis (Lily of the Valley sounds so much prettier, don’t you think?) this vintage image will have to suffice.  I do wish I could grow it here in my Zone 9 climate but the one time I tried it was a dismal failure.  My sister in Wisconsin has it popping up like weeds all along her driveway – drives me batty with jealousy.

There are so many plants that I love mainly for the name.  So evocative of a gentler time ~ Four O’Clocks, Forget Me Nots,  Jack in the Pulpit, Queen Anne’s Lace, Foxgloves, Lady’s Mantle.  I can just picture a white picket fence and Canterbury Bells spilling over into the walkway.

When my oldest was in first grade he was rather a trial to his teacher.  There were many parent-teacher conferences where we discussed possible ways to keep him in his seat with his mouth appropriately closed.  At the end of the year he presented her with a gift we put together ~ a pretty pot, a pair of gardening gloves, a nice shiny new trowel and a packet of Forget Me Not seeds.  She took one look at the seeds, laughed a little hysterically, took a sip from the paper bag she kept in the top drawer of her desk and muttered something like "not bloody likely…" under her breath. 

It was a cute gift though.  Forget Me Nots do very well in our climate too.  They can get a little invasive and tend to powdery mildew when it warms up.  But for the name alone I’m willing to put up with these small inconveniences.

I have no idea, by the way, what the name of the plant is above.  I bought it a few years ago and put it in a big pot with a pretty French trellis.  Every year it blooms like mad all Summer and then in the Winter it dies down and I cut it off dirt level and let it start all over again in the Spring.   It probably has a terrible name like beggar’s lice or snotty gobble (actual plant names) so I don’t mind not knowing. 

Can you tell I’m just longing for Spring?  It was so nice here today.  I want to get out there and muck about in the dirt and spend way too much money at the nurseries.  I can’t think of anything more satisfying than a day spent out in the garden, setting everything to rights.  Getting flats of annuals planted, the beds mulched and the roses fed.

For now I’ll just look at the seed catalogs and dream.