'^ CHOICE GARDEN FLOWERS 45 



period cannot be thus prolonged; but by 

 selecting early, midseason, and late varieties it 

 can be extended to about two months.^ 



LILIES, IRISES, AND GLADIOLI 



I have already given peremptory orders that 

 a small bed of Hemerocallis Hava, or lemon 

 lily, simply must find a place in every epicure's 

 garden because of its ravishing fragrance. But 

 there are other lilies no less alluring by their 

 scent, not to speak of their lovely shapes and 

 colors. The hemerocallis is also called "day 

 lily" because each flower blooms only a day, 

 but there are many others to succeed it, and it 

 has the advantage of "needing no coddling," 

 whereas other varieties do better in partial 

 shade than when exposed to the sun's full glare. 



All lily bulbs are easily damaged by careless 

 exposure or direct contact with manure. But 

 by using your brains you can have glorious suc- 

 cess with any and all of them. "I have had nine 

 hundred Madonna blooms in a single bed of a 

 dozen feet in diameter," writes Mr. Powell; 

 "the fragrance, pure, strong, and wholesome, 

 filled my garden and shrubbery. I do not know 

 of anything more perfect than a stalk of lilies 

 three or four feet tall, and crowned with five to 



* See Mrs. Harding's peony book, pp. 405-115. Seedsmen ought 

 to follow her example in indicating the relative period of blooming. 

 Also — and this is very important — the seed catalogues should 

 invariably refer to the fragrance of all flowers that have it, 

 4 



