For October, 1923 



n 



way to plant it is to dig a hole three inches deeper 

 than needed and till in to the required depth with 

 sand; then place the bulb sideways on this and cover 

 to the top with more sand. A layer of sphagnum 

 moss under the bulb is good. The principal thing is 

 to have good drainage and to see that no manure 

 touches the bulbs. The lilies that root only from the 

 bulb do not need to be planted as deeply as' those that 

 root from the stem too. The deepest planting should 

 be about eight inches from the top of the bulb to the 

 surface as for tigrinums, canadense, or henryi, while 

 the top of candidum should be only one inch below 

 the surface. Never plant closer than a foot apart ; 

 spacing depends on the size of the bulb. After the 

 plants are established it is well not to move them. 



Liliuiii canadense 



Some of them will form clumps in time and can then 

 be divided. The question whether lilies can stand 

 lime in the soil or not has been much discussed. Many 

 lime-hating varieties thrive in my perennial border 

 where the presumably insidious material is spread 

 quite thickly every Spring. I have, however, no bog 

 lilies. To winter out of doors they are mulched like 

 any other perennials with leaves or straw held down 

 by pine boughs or corn stalks. 



Lilies can be propagated by division, offsets, bulbils 

 and seeds. Little has been done in iTybridizing them, 

 and here are untried fields for the pioneer. The shape 

 of the flower lends itself easily to crossing. When 

 the pistil is receptive, it is covered with a sticky sub- 

 stance. The seed pod turns upwards after the peri- 

 anth has fallen off w'hen the pollination has been suc- 

 cessful. Most lilies have to be hand pollinated; I 

 have gathered seeds from tenuifolium, candidum, re- 

 gale, candense and superbum. The seeds are planted 

 in boxes with one-third sand and two-thirds leaf 

 mould and put in a cold frame m partial shade and 

 kept moist. In Winter they are protected with a 

 mulch of leaves, and the second Spring they are trans- 

 planted. Some will bloom the second Summer and 

 all the third after planting. It seems a long time to 

 wait, but gardening requires patience. Nature de- 

 serves our gratitude for making her own pace, and 



,^ell 



ow 



roots. 



semi- 



yellow spotted 

 album, white, 



no nervous eft'ort of man can change her majestic, 

 tempered intervals. 



The lily procession in my garden is led by elegans 

 the second week in June, with henryi bringing up the 

 rear as late as September 15. There are usually three 

 kinds in bloom at one time and the end of June and 

 beginning of July there have been as many as eight 

 varieties flowering simultaneously. 



All of the following list do well in the middle At- 

 lantic States : 



L. auratum (golden banded lily of Japan) needs re- 

 newing every few years if planted in rich soils ; white 

 spotted red with gold bands, fragrant, semi-shade, 

 stem rooting late July, August. 



L. brownii (Brown's lily), cream, brown outside, 

 fragrant, early July, bulb roots. 



L. candidum (]\Iadonna), white, fragrant, bulb 

 roots, late June, July. Needs renewing with me. 



L. canadense (Meadow Lily), yellow, rhizomatous 

 roots and stem roots, late June, Jul)-. 



L. croceum (Orange Lily), bright orange, stem root- 

 ing, late June, July. 



L. elegans (Thunberg's Lily), orange red. stem 

 rooting, June. 



L. hansoni (Golden Turk's Cap Lily), bright 

 .^emi-shade, stem roots, late June. 



L. henryi (Henry's Lily), orange, stem 

 August. 



L. humboldtii (Humboldt's Lily), orange, 

 rhizomatous, July. 



L. grayi (Asa Gray's Lily), red and 

 brown, rhizomatous, late June, Julv. 



L. martagon (Martagon Lily), var. 

 small flowers, stem rooting. 



L. philadelphicum (W'ood Lily), some stem roots, 

 red, June, July, bulb rooting. 



L. regale (Regal Lily), fragrant, white golden 

 throat, stem roots, July to early August. 



L. speciosum (Lance-leaved 'Lily), fragrant, rosy 

 or white with green heart, rhizomatous roots, late 

 August, September. Do not plant too deep. 



L. superbum (American Turk's Cap Lily), red and 

 orange, very tall, late July. August, some 'stem roots^ 

 rhizomatous. 



L. testaceum (Nankeen Lily), pale creamy buft', late 

 June, July, bulb like candidum. 



L. tigrinum (Tiger Lily), stem roots, August, Sep- 

 tember, pinkish orange. 



L. tenuifolium (Siberian Coral Lily), dwarf orange, 

 needs renewing every few years, no stem roots, lune, 

 early Juh-. 



When only a few lilies can be grown, I would sug- 

 gest ; regale, canadense, superbum, henrvi, speci- 

 osum, tigrinum. A secondary list has croceum. tenui- 

 folium, auratum. candidum. humboldtii. One cannot 

 make a mistake by choosing any of these for appear- 

 ance and reliabilit)'. 



If one has the requisite space to indulge one's 

 fancies to the fullest, Hlies are at their best planted 

 amongst low growing evergreens with higher ever- 

 greens behind them. Some shade-loving kinds are 

 good planted at the edge of a woodland. In the 

 border they should be placed against the wall of the 

 house or garden, in some wind-sheltered locality, so 

 that they do not have to be staked. They look'well 

 under pergolas, on the sides of steps or in any part 

 one wishes to emphasize. In the border there are 

 many effective waj^s of using them. The early low- 

 growing tenuifolium and elegans planted with blue 

 Campanula persicifolia make a pleasing picture. The 

 tigrinums are used so much that we tire of them, like 

 (Continued oil page 256) 



