Growing Valerian

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I’ve been growing Valerian in many gardens of my past, well before we moved up here to the Cariboo. It is a wonderful perennial plant, so it dies back in the fall and then grows again in the spring. You can grow them from seed or buy one in a container and transplant it.

I absolutely love the fragrance of Valerian so I just kept dividing existing plants and bringing some along when we moved. I’ve always just planted it again at the new place. I brought some up here and planted them in the flower garden right under the porch.

I try to plant them close to the house windows or the porch, so we can enjoy the wonderful fragrance. Valerian grows tall, more than 5 feet so it’s a good idea to enclose the plant with a Tomato cage in early Spring to let those tall stems get some extra support. A heavy rain can really damage the plant.

It blooms for about 6 weeks and at the end of the season, Valerian self seeds very easily; just don’t cut all the blooms when they are finished. Let the seed fall on the ground. In spring, some of those seeds will probably germinate and grow.

You can dig up any new ones that pop up and move them to where they will have room to grow. Valerian looks wonderful planted in a mass, so don’t worry about them being crowded – it looks beautiful.

You can see the Valerian growing on the front far right in the photo. It’s right behind the tulips. It won’t take long to shoot up several more feet, then start to bloom.

Some people use Valerian to help them sleep. Wonderful, wonderful…if you have some room, plant one of these!

The bees love the flowers and we all know we need as many bees as possible to pollinate our food supply.

I love cutting a small nosegay and putting it in a mason jar of water. Placed on the nightstand, it is wonderful how the scent fills the room.