When to sow lily of the valley in Shenzhen

Why these dates

Plant the pips - single-budded root divisions - while dormant in autumn or very early spring, 3cm deep with the bud just below the surface. Site it where spreading is welcome; it is difficult to remove once established and will out-compete smaller shade plants.

Hardy to about -35C and needs a cold winter to flower, which is why it performs poorly in mild-winter climates. All parts are seriously poisonous, including the water in a vase of cut stems.

Lily of the valley are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Shenzhen is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.

Shenzhen sits in zone 11a, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.

See every crop timed for Shenzhen →