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Gardening in Oz

Lily of the valley

21 years ago

Hi

On a recent trip to Japan I fell in love with these things. They have the best perfume of any flower I have smelt. However, i would like to know the northern limit to growing these in Australia. Has anyone tried them in Sydney? I have a climate similar to that of Noosa in QLD so I can probably forget about them, but what about for when I return to Sydney?

Thanks

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Comments (6)

ginnybee
21 years ago
I have them growing in Bathurst but we have a different climate to Sydney our winters are very cold & frosty I'm not sure if they need cold or not but they thrive here
Jan.
User
21 years ago
Hi Anthirum,
There is a guide to growing zones on www.bulbsdirect.com.au that will tell you what you need to know. I am afraid to say that it doen't look promising.
Cheers,
Dee.
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LOL!! I read so many of these posts reporting about the horrors of growing LOV, about its rampant spread and the difficulty in eradicating it if growing where not wanted. And none of it reconciles with my experience!! I live in the PNW, a very mild climate, and everything grows here!! And typically grows very well and very large. Yet in a lifetime of gardening I have yet to ever develop a robust clump of LOV! I can sometimes get a few pips to take but never with much vigor and never to the point where they start to spread nicely and form a colony. Where they may be considered invasive is going to be very location dependent....mostly some areas of the midwest and the northeast.
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anthirum
Original Author
21 years ago
I did check out the bulb site, but it is very vague in its climate descriptions - maybe to entice newbies to buy things wrong for their climate>>>???
Sparaxis
21 years ago
The question isn't can you grow them, but will they bloom. There are things that will grow beyond the recomended areas, but don't necessarily perform as you would like. They need frosty winters to set their blooms. They also meed a coll, moist root run, and even here they do best on the southern side of the house.
User
21 years ago
Hi Anthirum,
Did you click on the coloured square that matches the climate zone. It gives you a list of things that will grow there.
Dee.
meggs
21 years ago
I loved Lilly of the valley flowers, they were traditional flowers for mothers day where I come from. We used to get bunches of them from street sellers. However, unfortunately they will NOT GROW WHERE winters are warm, they need cold, frosty winters and lots of water at other times.

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