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Lily of the Valley questions

15 years ago

I did a search on this forum and found some interesting info. Most of what I found was that it can be invasive and spread. My questions are if most of my yard receives full sun, I won't have the spreading problem? Also, anythings got to be better than the spreading jap honeysuckle.

I also searched it on wikipedia and found out that it is poisonous. I was considering planting it the yard but will soon have a toddler crawling around. Is the poison aspect serious enough to not plant?

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Comments (2)

Nancy
15 years ago
I've had LOV for about 15 years & it has yet to be really invasive for me, not sure why. It has spread, but not as much as I wish. I think that is the key-if you want an invasive plant to spread, it won't.
As far as a toddler, there are many, many "poisonous" plants in a garden that one doesn't even think about. I didn't know that about lily of the valley. I know daffs, foxglove, & datura are, lots of others too. My thoughts are, a child that young shouldn't be unsupervised anyway. My kids never seemed to put plants in their mouth, they would be more likely to try a slug (ugh).
gardenmanya
15 years ago
If conditions are right LOV will produce lovely red berries by fall. They are poisonous and were used in pharmacology for centuries. Usually birds get them fast. The plants need to be in place for a while before they will start to produce berries. I always used my garden as well as parks and forests around as an opportunity to teach kids, including my own,about what you can eat, and what you can not.
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