What do Lilies of the Valley want?

I have long wanted to grow lilies of the valley. I have searched the forums and found that they like shade. I have tried many times to grow them in shade, in sun, in mixed sun and shade. I plant the pips. ( Am I on the right forum? Are pips bulbs?) They may or may not come up. Usually at least some do. I have never had one bloom. I have never had one return the next season.
I live in Los Alamos, New Mexico where the altitude is 7,300 ft. It is dry ( 18 inches of rain per year) and to make matters worse, we have been in a drought cycle for a good 2 years, more like 5. I do water my garden, though. I have good luck with columbines, violets, iris, oriental and asiatic lilies and lilacs which I gather don't do well in bright, hot climates like Phoenix and Tuscon. Los Alamos is only 35 miles from Santa Fe, NM and I once knew a person in Santa Fe who had a bed full of lilies of the valley. I even hear that in some climates lilies of the valley are so vigorous that they are invasive.
What am I doing wrong? My soil is probably neutral ( haven't checked), the bed I planted them in last has lots of violets which are doing very well and some irises that do reasonably well. Is it water? Is it ph? Is it weather ? (Our summers rarely have days over 100 and there aren't actually all that many days above 90. Nights are cool.
Can anyone give me advice?

I think they are just persnickety! I also tried for several years without much success. Last year I bought some that were already potted and growing and they came back this year. One bloomed. As I understand it, once they do start to grow, it takes 3 years before they take off. I'm looking forward to a much better showing next year.

That helps a lot beaker. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. Maybe I just wasn't lavishing enough attention on them. -- Water them every day, protect them from dogs and too aggressive violets, feed them, and especially buy good quality plants.

Lilies of the valley are not generally persnickety, in fact they're almost invasive when growing in ideal conditions. Your climate is probably too hot and dry for them. They're very cold-hardy (well into Canada) but they don't do well in the deep south. They need even moisture throughout the year and a good chill period in the winter.

All I can say is that I didn't have any luck planting bare pips and I tried for several years.

Yes, they don't like being bare-root and dried out. They do take a couple of years to get established after transplanting.

I bought mine from a nursery. they were in a plastic tube full of peat moss -- I think they were starting to sprout.
I am in zone 5, which is not hot, but it is dry. I don't know whether I am in 5a or 5b but if you tell me how to find out, I will.
Our summers are very cool compared to most of the country but they are dry. And we have fairly cold winters -- below zero sometimes, but not very often. But we have a fair number of days when the ground is frozen and digging is impossible. Perhaps I didn't water them enough, though the violets and irises in the same bed made it. Perhaps they need a rich soil as well.
They certainly aren't invasive here. I will try purchasing some in pots.

I live in 9B Houston Texas area. I really can't remember where they came from, but I think I dug them up the road on land that use to have houses. I can't tell you when except it has been at least 4 years.
When nothing happened I figured they died.

This year I almost passed out to find them blooming. It was a good size clump of them as my planting is hap hazard. We are very hot here. we had 100+ degrees all last summer not counting heat index.

They are planted in shade. I would say med not bright shade. But in the winter when the trees loose all there leaves they are in full sun, but it is much cooler. When I dug them and I brought them home and just placed the whole clump in a hole. They get watered when other things do and that is sometimes only when I can stand the heat.

That is all I can tell you about mine. I know I sure love them and would love to have the pink ones now. Hope this helps.


Blessings,
Sandy ^8^

Hi --
I am also in zone 5b (close to a section of 5a) in Michigan and have been trying to get some lily of the valley going. Here, there are many people who have big, solid patches of them.... My mom used to grow them ( in Ohio, also in a 5b area) in a place that was bordered by sidewalk, because they were in shady rich soil, and spread like crazy, so the sidewalks kept them in bounds. She did absolutely nothing to keep them going. But they were a very established patch.
I have bought the little packages in the store that have a couple pips, and have had terrible luck with them... I think that, often, by the time you get the package, the little bulb or pip or plant inside has had a very stressful time of it and is drying out, suffering from mold or mildew, or is leggy from being stored in a box or dark shelving area at the store -- anyway, I have had rotten luck with things packaged that way...
I finally got some nice healthy pips from a friend who has a magnificent patch -- 2 years ago. They have done much better, although there wasn't much bloom the first Spring after planting them. They seem to have taken some time to establish... This year was the second spring after planting, and they were significantly better, I had a nice percentage of plants blooming, and they are starting to spread.
They seem to like rich soil better than lean soil, and do better with some leaf or bark mulch to help enrich the soil and keep it moist. Also, they do nicely in full shade. Mine are not in the best place, since they are under a maple tree, which are notorious for robbing the plants beneath them of moisture... They are looking a little spindly, rather than lush like my friend's patch which is a foundation planting on the north side of her house... I also have some in a shady, but sandy-soil area, and they are also pretty spindly, adn I'm going to move them. I have a feeling that if I planted some in my wildflower garden area, with very humusy soil, they might really take off.
By the way, I do have some of the pink ones -- from my friend -- and I was surprised to see how truly pink they were, not just a pinkish tinge, but really pink!!
All the best -
FloweryHeart

Now I will really have to find the pink ones. Thank you.

Blessings,
Sandy ^8^

Thank you FloweryHeart,
You have given me hope and good advice. Next time I get some plants of pips, I will put them in a shady place with lots of good compost. Then I will watch over them carefully until they become established. Thanks for your advice!
Betty

When I lived in the Midwest, you almost couldn't get rid of them. They would run wild. Now that I have my own house and garden here in Colorado, I want lily-of-the-valley again. I just hope they'll do okay here. It's hot and dry (and we've been in drought mode for some years now), and my yard is basically sand with some clay. Not exactly the rich, moist, loamy stuff of Illinois. I have a place picked out for them under a tree. And when my lilacs grow big enough, I want to plant them there, too. I definitely have to try the pink ones.

Hi WH!
I think our climates are probably rather similar. I am farther south ( Northern New Mexico) but at 7,300 ft. You are probably about 2,000 ft. lower, but far enough north to balance out my altitude. The soil out west is generally horrid and I recommend that you start ammending the place for your lilies of the vally now. I think my failure was caused by not enriching my soil enough and not watering enough -- I watered, but probably not as often as I should have. I want to try both pink and white. I know they can work because I saw it in Santa Fe, but I think it might take more work to get them started than I realized previously.

They are very successful for me! I can hear you all groan! I inherited some from my Grandmother and they stayed in a pot for a few years. They are now planted in shade and in poor and mainly dry soil under some conifers and next to my pond where the soil is moister and after a slow start they have really taken off. I love them so I am glad to have them do so well and of course they are a lovely reminder of my Grandmother and Mother who both loved them too. Their scent is just out of this world. I have a mahonia shrub and it flowers in the winter and it smells exactly the same!

Yes, I am groaning. But your post helps me in a couple of ways. One is that Lilies of the Valley are slow starters. The other is that they are worth it -- wonderful fragrance, and 3 generations of love in your family. Also, they don't seem to require the best of conditions, though I wonder if the worst of conditions in England, may be better than ordinary conditions in New Mexico. I will simply plan to fuss over them for a few years next time I try.

This message was edited Jun 27, 2006 9:19 PM

i'm groaning too. I bought some from Easy to Grow Bulbs. I have a few leaves but no flower action. Then I bought some at WM and they're growing but at an even slower rate. must have been even less mature pips.