barbara...thanks for the kind words... karen... i have had them on the north side of my house for 28 years...i NEVER water them...they just get what ma nature gives them... have them contained by the house on one side and rubber landscape edging on the outside...after all this time it has only jumped the edging by 4 inches... i have let them run east/west the length of the house,,,and either dig them or use round up to contain them now... jill

Unless you want to put steel edging around it you will have to contain it manually. Never planted it in containers but don't see a problem with it along as it doesn't get full sun and it's in compost. If you amend the soil where planting it in the shade it should have no problem spreading. Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Perennials

Well, I sound like a broken record (even to myself) but why in the world would any one try to dig up LOTV rather than killing it with glyphosate (RoundUp). As long as you don't spray it on any of their foliage it will not kill other plants. It can be sprayed on tree trunks as long as there is no green showing as the bark protects tress. Even in close proximity to other plants why not paint it to a point where spraying is possible to eradicate the foliage showing, the roots as well as the rhizomes spreading it. I have never sprayed glyphosate directly on the bark of any trees, but I have sprayed right up against trees, most assuredly with some overspray on the bark, I have LOTV behind my shed where it doesn't bother anything and simply doesn't spread. I assume sunshine keeps it in check. ....and please don't tell me about how RoundUp is banned in Canada as every single herbicide in existence is banned for home use in Canada or how it is a 'probable' carcinogen based on a UN study that fed thousands of times any possible dose to rats and produced cancer in rats. 40-50 years of studies of people most greatly exposed to glyphosate in the manufacture and by farmers who have used it for decades has shown zero (yes, zero) increase in cancer risk. It is the least toxic herbicide available, period; or how it kills fish because it doesn't kill fish or any other animal; it is not recommended to be used near ponds or lakes because it will kill aquatic plants, which will eliminate food for the aquatic life in a pond or lake and fish will die of starvation, not from glyphosate ......OK, maybe vinegar may be just as safe, but is only effective if you don't mind spending many years repeating the process and probably doing a good deal of damage to enzymes in the soil and interfering with breakdown of nutrients. Since, off-the-shelf vinegar is 5% acidic acid I think this is probable. Jon Excuse me while I step down off my soap box.

Hello, I have some Lily of the Valley. If you want groundcover I also have creeping jenny, and gold moss sedum, and sweet woodruff. Geranium Pyrennaicum is a good cover too and I have plenty of that.