Maybe next year
Jun. 11th, 2008 03:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rscI thought I had posted about this around this time last year, but I can't find it.
Anyway, several years ago, I moved five or six lilies of the valley from a place where they were more likely to be trodden on than seen, and put them in a spot near the porch steps in the shade of an old cedar tree. And they thrived and multiplied, to the point that there got to be about 40 plants. But as of last year, none of them had bloomed.
It happened that I visited my brother and my parents in mid-spring of last year, and I asked my mother, who was knowledgeable about such things, whether lilies of the valley simply needed a few years before they bloomed, or whether something was likely to be wrong. Before my mother could say anything, my sister-in-law said that, yes, they take something like five or six years before they bloom.
This year, during the week before we left on our trip, I noticed that a few of them had bud stalks. "Great," I said, "the lilies of the valley are finally blooming, and we're going to miss them." And sure enough, when we got back we could just about see the last of the faded flowers. (Not that I'm complaining about what we were seeing during those two weeks instead.)
I think only about three of them bloomed this year. I'm hoping that more of them will do so next year, and that we'll be here to see it.
Anyway, several years ago, I moved five or six lilies of the valley from a place where they were more likely to be trodden on than seen, and put them in a spot near the porch steps in the shade of an old cedar tree. And they thrived and multiplied, to the point that there got to be about 40 plants. But as of last year, none of them had bloomed.
It happened that I visited my brother and my parents in mid-spring of last year, and I asked my mother, who was knowledgeable about such things, whether lilies of the valley simply needed a few years before they bloomed, or whether something was likely to be wrong. Before my mother could say anything, my sister-in-law said that, yes, they take something like five or six years before they bloom.
This year, during the week before we left on our trip, I noticed that a few of them had bud stalks. "Great," I said, "the lilies of the valley are finally blooming, and we're going to miss them." And sure enough, when we got back we could just about see the last of the faded flowers. (Not that I'm complaining about what we were seeing during those two weeks instead.)
I think only about three of them bloomed this year. I'm hoping that more of them will do so next year, and that we'll be here to see it.
