THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



635 



a place which a good plant or well-grown 

 group of it will not adorn. But the care- 

 ful growth and the proper placing of such 

 lovely hardy plants give the highest 

 charm to the garden. For years it has 

 been difficult to find even a miserable 

 tuft in many " show " gardens, though 

 they displayed nothing there so good as 

 a tall white Lily in a cottage garden. 

 Moist loam seems to suit it generally, 

 though, like other Lilies, it will grow in 

 a variety of soils. The varieties pere- 

 grinum, striatum, and monstrosum are 

 not so fine, but the striped-leaved variety 

 aureo-marginatis is valuable for its foliage 

 in winter. 



L. chalcedonicum (Scarlet Martagon} 

 is a very old and handsome Lily, of tall 

 and graceful growth, and bears several 

 pendulous, vermilion, turban - shaped 

 blossoms about the end of July. It is 

 one of the easiest to cultivate, thrives in 

 almost any soil, and is best when well 

 established and left undisturbed. There 

 are a few varieties, majus being the largest 

 and best. The others are gra?cum, rather 

 taller than the type and having smaller 

 flowers ; pyrenaicum, with yellow flowers ; 

 Heldreichi, tall and robust, flowering a 

 week or two earlier ; and maculatum, a 

 very handsome form. Native of Greece 

 and Ionian Isles. Similar to the scarlet 

 Martagon is the Japanese L. callosum, 

 a pretty Lily, i^ to 3 ft. high, with slender 

 stems, bearing in summer several brilliant 

 scarlet blossoms. L. carniolicum, of a 

 similar character, is i to 3 ft. high, and 

 produces in early summer turban-shaped 

 nodding blossoms of bright vermilion or 

 yellow. 



L. concolor. A pretty little Lily from 

 Japan, I to 3 ft. high, bearing three to six 

 bright scarlet flowers, which are spotted 

 with black, star-shaped, and erect. There 

 are some three or four varieties pul- 

 chellum, or Buschianum, an early variety 

 from Siberia, i^ to 2 ft. high, with crimson 

 blossoms ; Coridion, with flowers some- 

 what larger than the typb, and of a rich 

 yellow spotted with brown ; sinicum, a 

 Chinese form, with four to six crimson 

 flowers heavily spotted and larger than 

 the type ; and Partheneion, with scarlet 

 flowers flushed with yellow. This charm- 

 ing Lily and its varieties are quite hardy, 

 though they require some attention in 

 cultivating. They succeed in half-shady 

 places in a soil composed of two parts 

 of peat, one of loam, and one of road- 

 scrapings ; but seem to require renewing 

 every few years. 



L. croceum (Ora?ige Lily] is one of the 

 sturdiest and hardiest, and therefore one 



of the commonest of Lilies. It grows in 

 almost any soil or position, and bears in 

 early summer huge heads of large rich 

 orange flowers. In the mixed border it 

 is attractive, but shows best on the margin 

 of a shrubbery, where its stems just over- 

 top the surrounding foliage. It is always 

 best after some years' growth. A native 

 of the colder mountains of Europe, it is 

 one of the Lilies that may be naturalised, 

 but is never so strong as in rich garden- 

 ground. Lilies are said not to like manure, 

 but we have never seen this one so fine 

 as when in well-manured ground after 

 several years' growth. Indeed, we have 

 planted it over a subsoil, so to say, of 

 solid cow manure, and have had bulbs 

 and flowers of enormous size in two 

 years. 



L. davuricum is a slender European 

 Lily with moderate - sized red flowers, 

 spotted with black. Like L. elegans, it has 

 several varieties, the chief being Sappho, 

 incomparable, erectum, multiflorum, Don 

 Juan, and Rubens. Being strong growers 

 and flowering freely, they are fine plants 

 for the mixed border, for margins of 

 shrubberies, or for groups or masses, 

 thriving in partial shade as well as in 

 sunny places. 



L. elegans. One of the best and most 

 generally grown of the early Lilies. It is 

 commonly known by the name of Thun- 

 bergianum. It is very variable, and there 

 are about a dozen named varieties. The 

 type grows about I ft. high, and has 

 stout erect stems, which bear numerous 

 narrow leaves, and are terminated by a 

 bright orange-red flower, 5 or 6 in. across. 

 A native of Japan, flowering with us about 

 the beginning of July. Most of the 

 varieties are so distinct as to merit a 

 slight description. They are marmora- 

 tum and mannoratum aureum, two of the 

 earliest forms ; alutaceum, not more than 

 9 in. high, with a large pale apricot- 

 coloured flower, copiously spotted ; arme- 

 naicum (venustum), about iiy ft. high, 

 with several moderate-sized flowers (in 

 autumn) of a rich glowing orange-red ; 

 atrosanguineum, about i^ ft. high, with 

 large flowers of rich deep crimson ; Bate- 

 mannise, about 4 ft. high, with several 

 moderate-sized flowers, in late summer, 

 of a rich unspotted apricot tint (L. Bate- 

 mannias and L. Wallacei are put by Mr. 

 Baker as allied to L. Leichtlini and the 

 Tiger group. I do not consider the above 

 two species to be Thunbergianum) ; bicolor, 

 about i ft. high, with large flowers orange- 

 red, flamed with a deeper hue ; brevi- 

 folium, lijr ft. high, with flowers pale red 

 and slightly spotted ; citrinum, like 



