Re-Planting More LIly of the Valley

It seems pretty clear that having too many plants - especially monkey grass - in a garden can prevent other new plants from growing. At least it seemed this way for the Lily of the Valley that I planted last year.

I took great care in planning out a garden that would not only look nice, but would be fragrant as well. Near the patio was planted lily of the valley, bleeding hearts, and nasturtium.

The nasturtium was rather scraggly during the summer, but as soon as the cool climates came in it sure did start to take off. Of course, my nephews being as young as there are did not know any better and trampled every last one of them.

The bleeding hearts kept teasing me all last year with their fern like leaves as if to say, "Just be patient. We will come back next year" Yeah, well, they still are not peeking out anymore.

Then the lily of the valley began to grow from the few pips I planted. Pips? Oh, they are the little starters of new plants that are formed from roots of growing plants. Hence, lily of the valley will eventually send up pips, which will become a new plant of its own.

From what I have read, these plants can be invasive if not controlled, but they are a great border or "trail" of flowers that will scent your yard well. I have also read that one needs to separate these plants every 5 years. Personally, if they are like tulips, gladiolus and the like, I would do it every two to three years.

Something I did not know about these plants until a few days ago is that you need to soak the pips, roots and all, for up to two hours before you plant them in soil. Then you are to water the soil as well. They like moist soil but can tolerate some heat and dry conditions, too.

So I soaked these plants and planted them. They seem to have liked the soaking. We will see how they take to the amended garden they are planted within. Hopefully they do very well this year.