How to grow Polygonatum

• Propagation of polygonatums is easy by division or seed. I collect the ripe berries in autumn, clean them and sow them fresh. They then need a period of winter cold for germination to take place. In spring they will form a small rhizome under the compost and throw up a shoot in the second year.

• The fastest way to propagate them is by division in spring – just as growth is about to start. Carefully dig up the rhizomes – do be careful not to break them. I lay them out on my potting bench where I cut up the rhizomes into 7cm lengths. They don’t have to have the growing point at the tip for the rhizome to grow into new plants. They will have dormant buds along the length of the rhizome, which will sprout new shoots when divided and potted up.

This is a useful way to get many plants from a clump of Polygonatum.

• Polygonatums like a humus-rich soil that does not dry out but also never gets waterlogged. They perform best in cool dappled shade.

• Don’t plant deep as this can kill the plant, so just go below the surface. I grow them in my new woodland beds, which are slightly raised so they don’t sit in winter wet. Having the beds raised also lets you and your visitors see the flowers more easily and show off their graceful arching stems properly.

• Polygonatums are extremely low-maintenance plants. All you really need to do is cut back the entire stem in spring and occasionally give them a mulch of compost.

You might want to stake some of the taller polygonatums (the enormous Polygonatum zanlanscianense, for example).

• Some of my favourite species grow as epiphytes in the wild. Don’t try to replicate this in your own garden but give them really good drainage and even try growing them in a rich soil mix around the base of deciduous trees such as beech. It’s usually difficult to grow anything there but drainage is good. Luckily for me, and the plants, my new woodland beds and valley banks have excellent drainage and the soil is good and rich – perfect for polygonatums.

• Polygonatum is a healthy genus. The only real problem is Solomon’s seal sawfly, which can defoliate the leaves just after flowering, but plants usually recover well after a few weeks. Some species are susceptible to slug damage when the foliage is emerging in spring, but I have never had a problem with this. They seem to be able to out-run the slugs in their eagerness to grow.