JULY. 139 



are low trailing perennials, blooming in April 

 and May. The Canadian species has pale blue 

 flowers, and grows about a foot high ; and the 

 ovate phlox has purple flowers, and is, like the 

 former, a spring flower. 



The panicled phlox {Phlox paniculata) is 

 one of the most popular species. It is a tall 

 plant, sometimes four feet in height, with 

 numerous clustered flowers of pale lilac. This 

 flower is very conspicuous on the plains of 

 America. It has been an inhabitant of the 

 British garden for more than a hundred years, 

 and blooms in autumn. 



And noAv that frail and beautiful flower, which 

 blooms but for one day, then droops and dies, 

 the lovely day lily, may be seen opening its 

 ;^ellow vase to receive the dew-drops of the 

 morn. The French term it La belle d\mejour, 

 and some of their writers call it the asphodel 

 lily. Frail as it is, it is long ornamental to the 

 garden, for though one flower may die to-night, 

 yet to-morrow's sun shall gild another, and the 

 root will bloom for one or two months. Both 

 the yellow lily, {Hcmerocallis fldva,) and the 

 copper-coloured species, (HemerocalUs fidva,) 

 were known in England in queen Elizabeth's 

 time. The latter species is a native of the 

 Levant, and is a much taller flower than the 

 yellow kind, being sometimes four feet high. 

 The flowers generally called Japan lilies, are 

 natives of China and Japan. They bear the 

 open air well, and are handsome, and most of 

 them fragrant flowers. The blue Japan lily i? 



