Plant Profile: Solomon Seal

Solomon seal, or Polygonatum, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the lily family that is native to North America. It blooms in early spring with dangly white blooms. They aren’t big or showy blooms but small white one that hang from the stems. This is such an interesting and unusual plant to have in the garden. After the blooms appear in late May and early June a small berry can form.

This deer resistant plant pokes through the ground in early spring and the stems grow quite quickly.

The tops gently arch over and as the leaves unfurl you can see the little white blooms start to appear. A few little flower buds are just beginning to appear on this plant that grows in the corner of the north facing garden. The plant does spread so if left unchecked it could take over the corner of the garden.

Solomon Seal is an herb with some medicinal properties. The roots might have healing powers for cuts, and some shoots are edible (but I’d make sure you checked it out throughly before eating).

I cut the plant down in the fall, just leave a few cm. of the stem, and eagerly check the ground in early spring for the shoots to reappear.

It is a tuberous root that has lots of tiny roots heading out from it.

I just love taking macro photos of the blooms.

Solomon Seal can be tricky to photograph as the little white blooms hang downward.

They open up after a few days to reveal a lovely green colouring on the edges.

I did have to cheat a little for some of these photos and I snipped off part of a stem so I could get really up close and personal.

If you don’t have Solomon Seal in your garden look for small starter plants at garden club sales in the early spring or perhaps you will be lucky enough to get a piece of the root from another gardener.