Solomon's plume
Maianthemum racemosum
also called false solomon's seal, solomon plume, feathery false lily of the valley
Arching leafy wands tipped with a foam of cream flowers in spring, then clusters of speckled berries ripening ruby red: the showier cousin the true Solomon's seal keeps getting credit for.
- Type
- Flower · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Foliage color
- Green
- Flower color
- White
- Sunlight
- Shade to dappled sun
- Watering
- Moderate
- Soil
- Moist, rich, woodsy, slightly acid
- Feeding
- Gentle all-organic
- USDA zones
- 3a–8b
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Plant out
- at the last spring frost
- Plant spacing
- 17.7 in
- In-row spacing
- 15.7 in
- Between rows
- 23.6 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
- Root system
- Running rhizomes
- Working depth
- 4–12 in
- Can reach
- 18 in down where the soil allows
- Spread
- 4–8 ft across, about 2–4× the width of the plant
- Shallowest pot
- 12 in of soil
It travels underground, and it does not stop where you would like it to. Taking the tops off does nothing at all to the run, and every fragment left behind is a new plant. In open ground the only boundary that holds is a barrier sunk two spits deep, or a container with its rim standing clear of the soil.
The habit is Solomon's plume’s own; the figures are what that habit usually comes to at this size, not a measurement of this species. Roots follow the soil either way: a compacted pan, a high water table or heavy clay stops them well short of any of it, and deep open ground lets them go further.
- When
- Not harvested; the berries belong to the thrushes. Divide in early spring or fall.
- What to look for
- The plume of berries fully ruby red in late summer. A patch dense enough to lift a piece from without a visible hole.
- How to harvest
- To divide, lift a section of the shallow rhizome with buds on it and replant at the same depth in woodsy soil. Otherwise, cut the browned stems in late fall and top-dress with leaf mold.
- How often
- A fall tidy; division whenever a friend admires it.
- Storing the crop
- Nothing to store. The berries are technically edible but bitter-then-laxative; every field guide and this one say leave them to the birds.
- Generally trouble-free No notable pest or disease problems when grown in the right conditions — one of the easy ones.
Tell them apart in a second: Solomon's seal dangles its flowers in a row under the stem, Solomon's plume carries them all in one plume at the tip. The berries feed thrushes and grouse; the patch creeps politely and lives for decades.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com