640 LILIUM. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



LILIUM. 



is known of its culture, but the finest 

 plants have been produced where the soil 

 was two thirds common peat and one 

 third loam, with plenty of coarse sand. 

 A bed in a shady spot was selected, in 

 which the bulbs were placed at a depth 

 of 4 in., having underneath about I ft. of 

 the soil. Here the strongest bulbs threw 

 up stems 4 ft. in height, and the greatest 

 number of blossoms on one stem for the 

 first season was six. 



L. pardaliniim (Panther Lily}. One 

 of the handsomest of the Californian 

 Lilies, and one of the most valuable for 

 English gardens, as it makes itself 

 thoroughly at home in them and grows 

 as vigorously as in its native habitat. It 



Lilium Parryi. 



is 6 to 8 ft. high, and has large drooping 

 flowers of bright orange, spotted with 

 maroon. There are several varieties, the 

 most distinct being Bourgaei, one of the 

 finest, having stout stems 6 to 7 ft. high, 

 with twelve to twenty flowers of bright 

 crimson, shading to orange, and freely 

 spotted with maroon, and blooming a 

 fortnight later than any other ; pallida, a 

 dwarf variety, scarcely 5 ft. high, bears 

 flowers nearly double the size of the type, 

 and paler in colour ; californicum, a more 

 slender variety, 3 to 4 ft. high, and the 

 brightest in colour ; pallidifolium (pube- 

 rulum), a small form, with lighter flowers ; 

 and Robinsoni, a robust variety, with 

 stout stems 7 to 8 ft. high, and with 

 massive foliage, large flowers of a bright 

 vermilion shading to yellow, and freely 



spotted. This last is the noblest, and 

 should be grown if possible. The Panther 

 Lily is one of the most satisfactory of all 

 Lilies ; it has a strong constitution, in- 

 creases rapidly, soon becomes established r 

 and rarely pines away, as many kinds do. 

 It likes a deep, light, good soil, enriched 

 with plenty of decayed manure and leaf- 

 soil, where the roots can receive ample 

 moisture. It should always be in a 

 sheltered position, like the sunny side of 

 a bold group of shrubs or low trees. In 

 a special bed the near shelter of hedges 

 is desirable, though their roots should be 

 kept away. Bare borders are not the 

 places where this noble Lily does or looks 

 best there is no shelter or support for 

 plants which in their own 

 country have many shrubs 

 for companions and are 

 sheltered by the finest 

 trees of the northern 

 world. 



L. polyphyllum. A 

 rare and beautiful Lily r 

 2 to 4 ft. high, and hav- 

 HL ing large turban-shaped 



flowers of a waxy-white, 

 "'= copiously spotted and 



lined with purple. North 

 India. Mr. M'Intosh of 

 Duneevan, Weybridge, 

 who has been most suc- 

 cessful with it, writes : 

 " Sandy loam, peat or leaf- 

 mould, sand, and char- 

 coal, with a slight ad- 

 mixture of pulverised 

 horse - droppings, and 

 good drainage under the 

 bulbs, are all I have to 

 tell ; and I think early 

 staking and tying may 

 have something to do with 



many growing taller than they otherwise 

 might." 



L. pomponium. This lovely Lily must 

 not be confounded with the L. pomponium 

 usually sold as such, this latter being 

 simply the red variety of L. pyrenaicum. 

 L. pomponium is elegant and vigorous, 

 and blooms earlier than the varieties of 

 chalcedonicum and pyrenaicum, to which 

 it is related. It is about 3 ft. high, is 

 erect, and has long linear leaves. The 

 flowers appear in a lax raceme i ft. 

 through, and a well-established plant will 

 bear as many as twenty flowers. In rich 

 loam it grows luxuriantly in sunshine or 

 shade, and no difficulty is experienced 

 with either home-grown or imported roots. 

 Maritime Alps. L. pyrenaicum, a similar 

 but smaller plant, with small yellow 



