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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



(OF AMERICA) 

 Devoted to the Science of Floriculture and Horticulture 



I Vol. XXVII 



AUGUST, 1923 



No. 8 ■ 



Things and Thoughts of the Garden 



WILLIAM N. CRAIG 



N( )'r niaii\' appreciate the potential (lant^ers to g'ardens 

 from the Kuruiiean corn l)orer. Xot onlv does it 

 attack and ahnost entirely ruin corn, especially sweet 

 corn, and nnmerous other vegetables, but a great man}- 

 flowers are badly attacked ; the varieties which are banned 

 from shipment from the infected areas unless inspected 

 include zinnias, asters, clirysanthemums, cosmos, dahlias, 

 gladioli and hollyhocks which l;>y no means complete the 

 list of plants attacked. There are many other annuals and 

 perennials, and most serious of all, roses. It was felt for 

 some time that roses from their woody nature might prove 

 immune, but such is not the case, as they are being badly 

 attacked both outdoors and under glass. One commercial 

 grower told me a few days ago that his loss under glass 

 this season was at least $1,500. The moths fly into the 

 houses, deposit their eggs on the young shoots and the 

 little borers when hatched start to tunnel down the shoots 

 completely destroying them. It seems not improbable 

 that if this serious pest continues to spread, growers 

 of both roses and chrysanthemums in the infected areas, 

 which are being constantly extended, will be obliged to 

 protect all ventilators and doorways to prevent the moths 

 from entering. The bulk of readers of the G.\rde.n'ers' 

 Chronicle of America will fortunately know nothing of 

 the deadly damage now l)eing done over a wide area in 

 ^Massachusetts, and a number of other states, and it is 

 sincerely to be hoped that parasites may be propagated in 

 sufficient numbers ver\- soon to control the pest. To any 

 who may find any of these destructive pests I would coun- 

 sel the cutting ofif and burning of all attacked shoots and 

 in Fall the gathering together and burning of all dry weeds 

 and other forms of deliris^ Many weeds as well as culti- 

 vated plants are attacked and cleanliness added to watch- 

 fulness are the best methods of prevention and protection. 



I wonder if am readers of the Chronicle have suc- 

 ceeded in flowering the stately and beautiful Lilium gigan- 

 teum? This is the most noble of all hardy lilies and is 

 not to be confounded with the "giganteum'' of florists 

 which is merely a form of the well-known Easter lily 

 L. longiflorum. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of 

 seeing a very nice spike ten feet in height within five miles 

 of the Boston State House. This was in an ideal location 

 in a well secluded piece of wfiodland, protected from cold 

 winds. The spike carried ten flowers, which are white in 

 color, tinged a little with green outside and with purple 

 inside. L. giganteum is a native of the Himalayas and 

 is usually classed as somewhat delicate, but stands rigor- 

 ous Winters if well mulched. It succeeds well in the south 



of England, but I have seen splendid spikes in the English 

 lake district and on the island of Arran on the west coast 

 of .Scotland. Sir Herbert Maxwell of Alonrieth in Wig- 

 tonshire grows large colonies of this noble lily and flowers 

 it finely. It takes five or six years to grow a bulb to 

 flowering size from seed. After blooming the bulb is of 

 no further value, but it leaves a number of offsets which 

 can be transplanted and grown along. The foliage is 

 larger and more handsome than that of any other lily. 



* * jjc 



Speaking of Liliums, I wonder if it is generally known 

 that L. longiflorum Formosum makes an excellent garden 

 lily? About the middle of July I saw some excellent 

 spikes three feet or more in height in a garden on the 

 South Shore of Massachusetts. The head gardener in- 

 formed me that plants which had Ijeen flowered under glass 

 were cut back and planted outdoors, that they had with- 

 stood two Winters without protection and had flowered 

 splendidly. I have planted out the giganteum form of 

 longiflorum in late Fall and these have wintered and 

 flowered well for one season, sparsely a second season and 

 then disappeared. This is the way L. auratum acts with 

 most of growers, but in a rhododendron bed with a gener- 

 ous mulch of leaves which are never removed and where 

 the plants do not overshadow it too much, this latter 

 variety and our handsome native variety L. superbuni have 

 seemed very luuch at hoiue. 



* * * 



The bulbs of that immaculate garden lily L. candidum, 

 known as the St. Joseph's, Madonna, Annunciation and 

 .■\scension lily, are the earliest to arrive in this country, 

 amd the sooner they are planted the better, for they start 

 to root and make a rosette of leaves in August and Sep- 

 tember. This is much the oldest of all lilies in cultivation, 

 being introduced to England from southern Europe as . 

 long ago as 1596. Alany amateurs fail to grow it success- 

 fully. It will often be seen in old gardens growing and 

 flowering with a reckless abandon, while in many preten- 

 tious ones it seems very unhappy and is badly diseased. 

 Like all lilies it dislikes fresh manure, but a mulch of old 

 manure proves very beneficial in the growing season. 

 ^\'hile it will grow and flower very well in full sunshine, 

 I have had better f.uccess with it in partial shade, especiallv 

 where broken somewhat from the morning sun. Wher- 

 ever planted it should not be too close to other plants, and 

 it is especially necessary now to give the plants full light 

 when the new leaves are pushing up. W'hile the bulk of 

 lilies need deep planting. L. candidum should only be cov- 

 ered four inches. Rolling the bulbs in sulphur before 



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