Polygonatum

A rich addition to the woodland garden or herbaceous border. Often arching stems, which may be coloured, from which dangle delightful tubular flowers from the leaf axils. Cream, white, lilac or green and some scented. These will die down over winter, unlike its relative Disporopsis, which stay evergreen. The common name derives from a scar left by the deciduous leaf which looks like an ancient seal. There are a couple of native species to the UK, P. multiflorum, P. odoratum and P. verticillatum, with many more spreading across from Europe into Asia.

Hanging below the shoots, the tubular flowers of solomon's-seals are all attractive to and pollinated by bees, while the berries are edible to birds (not humans!) who eat them and disperse the seeds. The leaves are very often attacked by the larvae of the Solomon's-seal sawfly: while the skeletal remains after sawfly attack look drastic, because of the timing of the herbivory (after the leaves have done most of their photosynthesis), even wholly defoliated plants normally recover the following spring. Chemical control is NOT advised: far better to encourage ground-beetles (with mulching) and birds as natural predators. These will effect a degree of control on larval density.