Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Happy May Day

So, in honor of May Day (and the fact that I found it in the M'finda gardens), I'm posting a photo of Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis).


Each year, as I understand, Lily of the Valley is sold in France in honor of May Day, dating back to 1561, when King Charles IX received a sprig of Convallaria as a lucky charm.

I think the fact you can see it creeping between two Belgian Block edging stones is a testament to it's ability to spread.

The nomenclature is pretty straight-forward. Convallaria means valley and majalis refers to the month of May.

No comments: