Monday 4 October 2021

 

  Soloman's Seal (Polygonatum multiflorum) was one of the plants in my recent order from Shipton Bulbs. In fact it's a rhizome rather than a bulb. Propagation is by division; in this case chopping off a section of the rhizome where a bud has formed. I ordered five such and they arrived in a small bag of soil to keep them moist. Unlike many of the bulb species they would not survive being dried out.
 I've had mixed results trying to establish them and they seem quite picky as to location. Soloman's Seal is a spring flowering native of ancient woodlands but I can't say I've ever seen them growing wild. Perhaps I haven't looked hard enough or in the right places. The patch shown below is a naturalistic planting on the edge of Regent's Park: