Soloman's Seal is a common name for numerous species in the Polygonatum genus in North America, Europe and Asia. Several are native to the UK and sometimes grown as garden plants as seen above in Regent's Park, London. Actually these may be one of the cultivars rather than the straight species, they look very similar.

 I ordered ten knobbly rhizomes of Polygonatum multiform from Shipton Bulbs. Five I planted straight into the ground. The others I potted up to plant out later. They are too long for standard pots so I made use of plastic trays -the pummets that mushrooms are sold in by supermarkets- with drainage holes drilled in the bottom. Plastic has its uses for things that are meant to last; unfortunately we treat it as a disposable item.

 I gather the right way to align the rhizomes is with the 'claw' arching over the rhizome in the direction you want the stems to arch. Having said that plants tend to grow towards the light. So I imagine the stem may adjust its direction accordingly when it begins to poke through the ground?

  I have spot in mind along a fence where I want the stems to point into the garden so it makes sense to orient the claw towards the light. I marked the trays with an x denoting the direction of travel.