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Valeriana officinalis |
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| Common name |
common valerian; garden heliotrope |
| Family |
valerianaceae |
| Life cycle |
perennial (Z4-9) |
| Flowers |
white (summer) |
| Size |
4-6' |
| Light |
sun-part shade |
Spreading herb with fragrant flowers and ferny foliage. The flowers are so white that I have a hard time capturing them with my camera. Fast-growing in late spring - there's a week between the two photos above. This is reported to be a prolific self-seeder; so far, I haven't noticed this yet in our garden, but our first flowers came just a year ago - I'll be keeping an eye out for seedlings.
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| | Taller already in its third year (late May - the buds have not yet opened) |
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| | A week later, now in full bloom |
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| | New growth emerging in striking burgundy tones, late March |
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We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston. About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Valeriana officinalis
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| Glenn Steinberg | Mar 29, 2011 | If yours are like mine, they will indeed re-seed prolifically. They come up everywhere, even great distances from the original. I didn't mind, because I had a fairly large space that was fairly bare in which they colonized quickly. But mine get so big and try to drown out the Hostas, Sweet Cicely, and even Goatsbeard that are now their neighbors. The flowers on mine have an amazing smell: most people find the smell enchanting, but some people liken it to stinky manure. The smell pervades my entire back yard when the plants are in bloom. |
| deb | Jul 09, 2011 | I too, have prolific Valerian. It stayed in one spot till I had it 3 or 4 years, and now it seems to be everywhere. It does smell very sweet so I don't mind it popping up here and there. It pulls up easily if I don't want it in a particular spot. |
- Seed from '07 trade. Baggy 35F (12w) - 70F (all of the plump seeds germinated in 3 days; lots of duds)
- Seed from '10 garden. Baggy 35F (13w) - 70F (28%G, 4-5d). Lots of seeds had no bulk
- Seed from '11 garden. Baggy 35F (8w) - 70F (60%G, 3-5d)
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