232 FLOWER GARDENING 



as L. tigrinum, L. croceum and L. speciosum. At 

 the same time that you are learning to grow these to 

 perfection, familiarize yourself with the way that 

 lilies separate themselves into groups, largely ac- 

 cording to the form of the blossom, and get a clear 

 understanding of the reasons why some lilies are 

 more difficult in culture than others, and to what ex- 

 tent such difficulties can be overcome. There are 

 eighty or more species of lilies in culture, but with 

 a little research that will be a great pleasure it 

 will not be troublesome to separate them into zones 

 of difficulty, through which you may care to venture 

 farther and farther as the years go by. Very likely 

 it will not be many years before you find yourself 

 trying to persuade those lovely, but tender, pink 

 lilies, L. japonicum and L. rubellum y to stay with 

 you by guaranteeing special attention to their wants 

 in the way of food and winter bedclothing. 



The iris offers just as fascinating a field as the 

 lily, with the advantage of being a less expensive 

 hobby within the zone of easy culture. "The poor 

 man's orchid" has the further advantage of a mate- 

 rially greater variation of species. One could easily 

 make a hobby of the German, the Japanese, the 

 Spanish or the English iris, so many are the varie- 

 ties of each. No less than fifty-six named varieties 

 of Japanese iris are in a single American list. An- 

 other offers forty-two German irises, while in a 

 British list are thirty-five Spanish irises and thirty- 

 two of the English and all these are only selec- 

 tions from larger nursery collections. 



