Transplanting lillies of the valley

I own a house in Sperryville, VA, which is chock-a-block with lillies of the valley. I tried transplanting some to my current house in Rockville, MD, with minimum success. Of the dozen I transplanted, I am getting maybe three or four volunteers to come back.

I am moving house again June, to a third house in Virginia. I want to take some lillies of the valley with me. Can you help me figure out how/where/when to transplant these lovely little flowers?

If you take enough soil with them, they shouldn't even notice they've been moved. These need time to settle in and don't start taking off for about 3 years after transplanting.

Any suggestions as to when? Spring? Summer? Fall?

And if they take that long to take off again, I guess the fact that I got any coming back here in the MD house is a good thing. : )

Well, if you can choose the time, I would say once they've gone dormant in the fall. But if you are moving in June, just make sure you dig a big clump of dirt with them and they shouldn't even notice they were moved. As long as you don't disturb the root structure, you can move at almost any time. To be safe, I would avoid moving plants when it is really hot. Once replanted, water in really well and make sure they stay moist during the move itself if they are going to be out of the ground for any extended time.

If you manage to move them without disturbing the roots, they should continue to do their thing and you will probably start seeing signs of multipling by next year.

I've been trying to get LOTV started here for years. I finally got 5 pips to take last year and I have exactly 5 coming up this spring. Next year I expect to see a few more and thereafter, they become a lovely nuisance.

Thank you both. In the Virginia house, they were contained in two garden beds under shrubs. There was a barrier, so they did stay in place without too much trouble.

In my new house, there are two lovely shady banks where I was thinking about putting them.

Are they likely to choke out anything else if I do that or should I make an effort to contain them there?