CHAPTER XXVH 



GARDEN LILIES 



OF all the hardy bulbous plants that may be grown out of 

 doors in this country, the lily is surely the most noble and 

 the most highly decorative. The stately beauty of a well- 

 cultivated lily, combined with its delicious fragrance and delicate 

 colouring, gives it a pride of place that is thoroughly well merited. 



The number and variety of the species of the lily are so great 

 that it would easily be possible to devote a whole garden to their 

 cultivation. But this would require the surrender of so much 

 space, and would involve an initial expenditure of so much money 

 as to make it beyond the possibility of realisation by the vast 

 majority of amateur gardeners. 



The mental vision which the mere suggestion of such a garden 

 conjures up is, however, so gorgeous that it surely conveys a 

 practical hint which those who intend to plant lilies in their borders 

 should keep steadily in mind. And it is this : that the most 

 effective method of growing lilies in the mixed border is that of 

 grouping. Isolated specimens planted at intervals of several 

 yards at the back of a border are, it is true, things of beauty ; but 

 a single specimen if grown in close proximity to others of a like 

 species seems to take on an added decorative effect, and to display 

 its graceful foliage and shapely flowers to still greater advantage. 

 Moreover, the plan of grouping lilies is essentially the natural 

 method. If a Madonna Lily bulb be left undisturbed for a number 

 of years, as it should be, it will increase and multiply until it has 

 formed itself into a perfectly natural group. 



Liliums are indigenous throughout the north temperate hemi- 

 sphere extending from California in the west to China and Japan 

 in the east, across the continents of North America, Europe and 



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