• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Shop Art
  • Shop Plants

Gerald Simcoe

Art, Flowers, Life

  • Portfolio
  • Blog
    • Garden Flowers
      • Snowdrops
      • Cyclamen
    • Paintings
      • Flowers
      • Portraits
  • Contact Us

Ornithogalum umbellatum – Star-of-Bethlehem

May 21, 2017 by oftheearthllc

closeup of flowers

Star-of-Bethlehem is a bulbous, trouble free plant. When in flower, it occupies a dark spot in the garden that would otherwise be bare soil. Especially brightening the   underside of Paeonia ostii – a leggy, woody peony species with white flowers, it echoes the color with a fine texture.    

Perfectly hardy here in USDA  Zone 6, it is toxic to grazing animals, but remains undisturbed in pastures. I moved mine from the lawn, where they were naturalized but bloom sparsely due to mowing.  It is vigorous yet manageable, unlike its close relative  – Ornithogalum nutans – which can overtake and entire acre where a house once stood.  

It blooms in concert with the Bach Festival in nearby Bethlehem, PA where  Bach’s Mass in b minor was first sung in America in 1900.

Ornithogalum drawing by Leonardo da Vinci collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
They brighten a shady spot around a rock and in between hostas and violas

Filed Under: Garden Flowers

Footer

Add Some Beatuy To Your Life!

Get the latest on Gerald's art and plants.

Shop Snowdrops

Gallery Monthly Newsletter

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 · Of The Earth LLC. · Sitemap · Privacy Policy