Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia

Lily of the Valley

Convallaria majalis

Thomas Jefferson recorded lily-of-the-valley,(Convallaria majalis) as early as 1771 in a list of hardy perennial flowers suitable for Monticello.

Small white, bell-like flowers amid large, dark green, lance-like leaves.
Growth Type
Perennial
Hardiness
Cold hardy to USDA Zone 3
Conditions
Prefers light shade and well-drained soil with a yearly application of well-rotted manure or compost in the fall
Colors
White
Size
Grows 6 to 10 inches high and 1 to 3 inches wide; spreading
Documented By
Thomas Jefferson
Seeds
Available in our online shop

Scientific Name: Convallaria majalis

Common Name: Lily of the Valley or Lily-of-the-Valley

Cultural Information: Plant the growing tip of the rhizome just below soil level in a well-prepared bed. The foliage begins to go dormant by early fall, dying completely to the ground.

Thomas Jefferson recorded lily-of-the-valley as early as 1771 in a list of hardy perennial flowers suitable for Monticello.1 He also ordered roots from Bernard McMahon in 1809.2

This well-known flower, native to Great Britain, is a universal favorite and has been in gardens since the 16th century.3 Williamsburg's John Custis first mentioned lily of the valley around 1738, and by 1829, flowers in white, double white, and rose red were known.4 In the late 19th century it became an important florist flower and was produced in immense quantities.

Lily of the valley is a hardy, herbaceous, late-spring-flowering perennial with fragrant, nodding, white, bell-like flowers and large, dark green, lance-like foliage. The plant was used to help with headaches, hysteria, fainting, sprains, cholic, and love potions.5

- Peggy Cornett, n.d.

Primary Source References

1808 December 19. (Ann Cary Randolph Bankhead to Jefferson). "I would be much obliged to you if you will send me in a letter some of the ice plant seed a Lady here has Lost it & is to give me a few roots of the Lilly of the valley ...."6

Further Sources

Footnotes

  1. Garden Book, 1766-1824, page 7, by Thomas Jefferson [electronic edition], Thomas Jefferson Papers: An Electronic Archive (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2003). See also Betts, Garden Book, 24.
  2. Edwin M. Betts, Hazlehurst Bolton Perkins, and Peter J. Hatch, Thomas Jefferson's Flower Garden at Monticello, 3rd ed. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1986), 57.
  3. David Stuart and James Sutherland, Plants from the Past: Old Flowers for New Gardens (London: Penguin Books, 1989), 107.
  4. Ann Leighton, American Gardens in the Eighteenth Century (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1986), 410.
  5. Stuart and Sutherland, Plants from the Past, 107; Alice M. Coats, Flowers and Their Histories (London: Black, 1968), 57.
  6. Coolidge Collection of Thomas Jefferson Manuscripts, Massachusetts Historical Society. Transcription available at Founders Online.