Photograph by Erin Boyle. Story photography by Britt Willoughby Dyer, unless noted otherwise.

Here's the thing about lily of the valley: you need to treat it like a cash crop, earning its space in your market garden. Unless it is cut and placed in water, the flowers are too small and dainty to appreciate, their exquisite scent wafting around your feet. Here are a few of our favorite examples of the spring-time loner.

Photo by Erin Boyle

The waxy blooms of lily of the valley are often copied in artificial bouquets.

Lily of the valley is one of the few flowers that does not mind shade.

Photo by Erin Boyle

The highly poisonous Convallaria majalis

Pretty in pink: Convallaria majalis 'Rosea'.

Lily of the valley makes great ground cover.

Convallaria majalis flowers edging a border.

A classic springtime posy.