Ornithogalum is really two plants sold under one name, and it pays to know which you are buying. The hardy sorts are the true Stars of Bethlehem, low clumps of white stars that open wide in the spring sun and naturalise themselves about with a will. The others, the dubium types, are altogether more exotic, hot little heads of orange, yellow and pink out of South Africa that want a pot and a frost free winter. Between them they cover a great deal of ground, and every one of them is easy once you know what you are dealing with.
When Do They Flower
The hardy kinds flower through April and May in six petalled stars of clean white, each one backed with a stripe of green and held over narrow grassy leaves. They are creatures of the sun and keep gardener’s hours, opening wide only when the light is full on them and closing again by early afternoon or on a dull day, a habit that earned the family its old country names of nap at noon and eleven o’clock lady. The dubium types come later and in far brighter colours, but the trick of opening to the sun runs right through the tribe.
Where Should You Plant Them
Give them sun, or very little shade, and any soil that does not sit wet. The hardy Stars of Bethlehem are tough almost to a fault. They take to grass, to the edge of a border, to the bare ground under shrubs, and every spring the colony is a little wider than it was. The one to watch is umbellatum. It runs, and it runs fast, so plant it where it is free to do so, in rough grass or a wild corner well away from anything precious. Thin, hungry soil does not bother a single one of them.
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How Do You Plant Them
The hardy sorts go in through the autumn, eight to ten centimetres deep and about the same apart, and then look after themselves, spreading through grass or border without any further help. Leave the foliage to die down before you mow. The dubium are the exception and want quite different handling, potted up in spring into gritty compost, kept warm and never once allowed to feel a frost, then stood out on a sunny sill or a sheltered patio for the summer. Treat them as you would any tender pot bulb and they will flower for weeks on end.
The Hardy Whites
Among the hardy whites, nutans is the loveliest, thirty centimetres or so of one sided spikes hung with nodding silvery bells striped in grey green, happy in light shade and the holder of an Award of Garden Merit. The common Star of Bethlehem, umbellatum, is the low white spreader for naturalising in grass, cheap and cheerful and best simply given its head. Taller than either is the one we list as Kyiv, a slender white column of a plant reaching seventy centimetres that makes an elegant cut flower and a fine upright for a sunny border.
The Tender Dubium
The dubium break every rule the hardy whites keep. They come from South Africa, they cannot stand frost, and their colours are anything but subtle, dense heads of orange, yellow or rose pink stars each with a dark eye, going on and on for weeks. All of which means one thing in a British garden, which is to grow them in a pot. Stand it out in the sun for the summer, bring it in well before the first frost bites, and you have one of the brightest and least demanding tender bulbs there is.
Plant These With Your Ornithogalum
The hardy Stars of Bethlehem naturalise happily among the other easy bulbs of spring, sharing the same open sun and the same undemanding soil. Set them alongside these three and let the lot knit together into the turf or the border.
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