Would you let lily of the valley grow around your hostas?

myskyblue2 · Post by **myskyblue2** » May 04, 2008 8:37 am

How can something that smells so good, be so bad? Do they really harbor nematoads?
Why cant they all just get along

I'm going to call around to my local floral shops to see who wants to buy my blooms. Might as well make some money if they got to go!

Mikky · Post by **Mikky** » May 04, 2008 10:51 am

Lily of the Valley is a flower of Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan, where I am from. During the season, department stores have a special corner where you can have potted LOTV shipped to your relatives and friends all over Japan. So I have special attachment to LOTV.

The story is different when they grow in my hosta garden though. One time I found them starting to spread inside, across and around my hostas, and they were immediately pulled. Actually it was my fault because I had planted hostas near where LOTV were always growing. Oh, well, I was the boss.

I don't have LOTV problem in my garden any more, but have problems with violets. They are growing all over in my hosta garden and can't seem to get rid of them, and vilolets are NJ state flower! Anybody, any advise?

John · Post by **John** » May 04, 2008 11:10 am

My drifts of lily-of-the-valley are in full fragrant and pristine white bloom among the hostas now. I am considering removing some of the hosta to give them more room...

Willowy · Post by **Willowy** » May 04, 2008 11:20 am

I love LOTV too. However I realized within two years of planting a "few" near my hosta that it was time to get rid of it. No harm done in the hosta bed - it's all gone.

However, of course I didn't throw it out. I moved it to an area under the vent for my forced hot water heater. Nothing grows there and I thought, "If it grows, it will be kept in check". Guess what....LOTV thrives and now I'm thinking about removing thousands of the plants (and it has only been growing there for two years)!

Kas · Post by **Kas** » May 04, 2008 3:44 pm

Mikky, I would say to get your trowel out and start digging those violets right away! I remember once upon a time when my parents actually had grass in thier backyard. Now it is solid violets! It is very pretty when they bloom, but not so much in the winter.

Kas

jgh · Post by **jgh** » May 04, 2008 7:35 pm

about the violets... you probably already know this, but violets are spectacular in their ability to spread because when the seed pod gets ripe, it kind of explodes throwing seeds in all directions.

So... spring is a good time to remove them, before they get to bloom and reseed the whole area. if the soil is moist, they can be weeded and or/troweled... I'll never get rid of all of them, but with a good spring effort I can keep them down to a few.

Mikky · Post by **Mikky** » May 04, 2008 9:58 pm

I had never paid attention to the violet seed pods, but I guessed about that. I wish I had a photo to post here. There are hundreds of babies covering the ground around Mama violet.

I will keep scraping them with a hoe...

MollyD · Post by **MollyD** » May 05, 2008 7:58 am

I wonder if climate and other growing conditions are a factor? I have no trouble with my LOTV at all. Very well behaved so far. Violets are another matter. Our lawn is over an acre so there is no digging them out! If anyone knows how to kill them and not the grass please let me know!

MollyD

baja220 · Post by **baja220** » May 06, 2008 8:07 am

I've been battling Violets for years. Last year I even got some weed killer for the lawn that we normal peeps can't get and it didn't kill it. It'll look sick, but then spring back to life.

It's all in the yard and now in my hosta beds. I'm thinking for mixing Round Up 3 times what your supposed to and painting it on. On a day I don't have anything else to do.

I've sprayed it with RU at normal strength and it didn't kill it. But I'll sure be pickin those flowers off!!

Linda P · Post by **Linda P** » May 06, 2008 8:37 am

Violets are the state flower in Illinois, too. I weed out millions of them every year, but still have hundreds of thousands of them. My sis was here Sunday walking around the garden with me, and she was blown away by the size of the blooms on the violets that I left in the flower bed. My dad says that they think Roundup is fertilizer. I think he may be right.
The LOV has had a population explosion over the winter. I'll have to dig some of them out again. I guess I could hum the little song while I'm digging. Nah, it just doesn't sound right unless you have several people to sing it in round. We used to sing it on the school bus every spring when it got down to the last 8 or 9 kids on the bus. We were the ones who lived so far out that we got on the bus first and got off last, so we had 2 hours of busride every day to fill with various tortures for the bus driver. The ''White Coral Bells" song was second only to "100 Bottles of Beer" on our driver's most-hated list. At least the 4 of us who sang it were fairly well on tune....
Linda P

kHT · Post by **kHT** » May 06, 2008 1:46 pm

A lady stopped by last night and wanted LOTV and do you know how hard it is to dig up LOTV that has been in the ground 20 years?? The ones that spread to the ferns weren't bad to dig but the center of the clump, ouch!! I even sprayed them twice with round up and I'll be digging the rest now! This lady couldn't find any locally and needed them for a wedding. She took some for her memorial gardens as it was her grandmother's favorite.

ademink · Post by **ademink** » May 06, 2008 2:32 pm

I'm with you, John....love it and have no issues w/ growing hosta in it. I have some monsters that don't bat an eye at it.

MollyD · Post by **MollyD** » May 07, 2008 6:35 pm

"My dad says that they think Roundup is fertilizer. I think he may be right. "

I think he's right too! They and raspberries don't seem to be hurt by Roundup!

MollyD

Noreaster · Post by **Noreaster** » May 07, 2008 6:55 pm

I pretty much have an ocean of it. It was the only thing the previous owners planted, along with a few daylilies, and we lived here for years before I ever got the urge to try to garden. Now I'm obsessed with gardening, and hosta in particular. I have probably removed half the LOTV that we had...and I still have a ton. I was reworking one bed today to raise the soil and better contain the LOTV (I bury plastic edging- I'm sure it won't be sufficient, but hopefully it will at least slow it down). So, that's my method of having it coexist with my hosta. My FIL finds no problem having his LOTV mingle with his hosta, but his LOTV doesn't seem quite as happy as mine, shall we say.

Even though the stuff is a major pain, I do like the way it looks with hosta. The green of the leaves seems to be a different shade than the majority of my hosta and I also tend to buy variegated hosta for the most part, so I also like the contrast with the solid leaves of the LOTV. Not sure what I would replace it with if I really got ambitious enough to take it all out. I removed an entire garbage bag's worth today and I'm completely exhausted....I hate how far down those roots are, not to mention under roots and rocks. Ugh. I still think it's pretty though...

FreakyCola · Post by **FreakyCola** » May 08, 2008 10:20 pm

Well,... I went out there today & seems the goose neck loosestrife has taken over the lily of the valley! Now I have two headaches!

And now I have to deal with hosta overlap too! Some of my babies decided to explode this year & are going to cover their neighbors if I don't intercede!

If I just close my eyes & ignore it will it all go away? Oh please say it will!

wishiwere · Post by **wishiwere** » May 08, 2008 10:36 pm

Sure uh huh. Close those eyes dear. By morning it will all be over!

John · Post by **John** » May 08, 2008 11:37 pm

My hostas have been comfortably seperated from their neighbors for years. BUT this year, they are all growing like wild and starting to overlap... What's up?! Must be a LEAP year...

ViolaAnn · Post by **ViolaAnn** » May 09, 2008 7:30 am

I also have a lot of violets and I don't think they are possible to get rid of. I just get really brutal with them every few years to keep them part way under control. They ARE much easier to get out this time of year before the grass gets lusher.

myskyblue2 · Post by **myskyblue2** » May 10, 2008 9:48 am

Linda P

My dad says that they think Roundup is fertilizer. I think he may be right.

Your Dad is a wise man!

When I look at the yard violets, I think of two things:

1: This has got to be a prehistoric plant to have survived for so long!

2:It could be worse, I would be looking at thistle

After that, the serenity prayer comes to my mind.

Midnight Reiter Too · Post by **Midnight Reiter Too** » May 11, 2008 5:42 am

I hope I got out all the LOTV last year. Years ago I planted violets and they are kind of like weeds, but I guess I'll keep digging the renegades up because they're too pretty to get rid of entirely.

viola odorata

My purple ones on the north side of the house don't seem to be spreading much. They've been there over ten years.