LILIUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



LILIUM. 



545 



success may be ensured by making a 

 special soil of rotten manure, leaf-mould, 



White Martagon lilies. 



or cocoa-fibre. In such a mixture, so free 

 and open that the hand could be pushed 

 down below the bulb, we have seen them 

 perfectly grown where the natural soil was 

 too stiff and impervious. The hardier 

 varieties are admirable for artistic garden- 

 ing, their fine forms being very effective 

 when tastefully grouped on the fringe of 

 beds of choice bushes and when touching 

 and seeming to spring out of the grass. 

 They are also good in beds either specially 

 devoted to them alone or in combination 

 with other plants. Similar to L. longi- 

 florum are L. neilgherrense, philippinense, 

 Wallichianum, and nepalense, but none is 

 hardy, and all are poor and unsatisfactory, 

 except, perhaps, for the greenhouse. 



L. MARTAGON (Turk's-cap Lily). This 

 is so common that we need only mention 

 its varieties. These are very fine, especi- 

 ally dalmaticum, which has flowers larger 

 than the type, and of a shining blackish- 

 purple, a contrast to the loveliness of the 

 pure white variety (album). Cattanice is a 

 form of dalmaticum, and scarcely differs 

 from it. Like the type, the varieties 

 thrive freely in a good loamy soil ; they 

 are perfectly hardy and are rather partial 

 to shade, growing freely in grassy places, 

 open woods, or copses. Some of the finer 

 varieties are good garden plants, and 

 should be grouped in the spaces between 

 hardy Azaleas or similar flowering bushes. 



L. MONADELPHUM. A magnificent Lily 

 of noble growth. The stout flower-stems 

 vary from 3 to 5 feet in height, and are 

 terminated by a pyramid of six to twenty 

 turban-shaped flowers, ranging in colour 

 from a rich canary-yellow to a pale lemon- 

 yellow. Some forms have spotted flowers, 

 and some are much larger than others. 

 The varieties are known as L. Szovitzi- 

 anum, colchicum, and Loddigesianum. L. 

 monadelphum thrives best in moist, deep, 

 loamy soil, well enriched with good manure 



Liliutn monadelphum, var. Szovitzianunt. 



at the time of planting ; but does not 

 show its true character till it has been 



2 M 



