34 LILIES 



will be better, and look more at home, if there 

 is an evergreen herbaceous ground cover, low 

 or tall according to the flowering height of the 

 dominant figures. 



Lilies really require an appropriate back- 

 ground. A few, such as the madonna and 

 Henry's lilies, are very, very beautiful stand- 

 ing out against a clear blue sky ; but, generally 

 speaking, green, and plenty of it, is the best 

 setting, especially for the white, whitish, pink 

 and pale yellow lilies. So, in massing in the 

 border of hardy perennials, care should be 

 taken that something appropriate rises higher 

 behind them. This is no drawback when it 

 shuts off some of the sun, for most lilies will 

 stand a little shade and there are those that 

 refuse to thrive well without it. Such massing 

 is the most effective way of planting lilies where 

 naturalistic methods are out of the question 

 and here there may be a little more crowding. 

 The more irregular the planting the more ef- 

 fective, save in purely formal designs for 

 which lilies are not often suitable. Any lily 

 that will survive the garden winter is excellent 

 for this purpose all of those already spoken 

 of in this chapter and the Nankeen lily (L. tes- 

 taceum), the turban lily (L. pomponium), the 



