HARDY P^XOTir- FLOWETiTXri PLANTS. 147 



liiit tlic effect of t lie siiiglr large lildiniis nf tlie orange lily just level 

 \\ ith the tops of the grass, in early sunuiu-r, where it grows wild, is at 

 least as heautiful as any aspect it has hitherto presented in gardens. 

 Along the hed of small rivulets, in the bottom of narrow gorges densely 

 shaded by great Thujas, Arbutus trees sixty and even eighty feet high, 

 and handsome large-leaved evergreen oaks on the Sierras, I saw in 

 autumn numbers of lily stems seven, eight, and nine feet high, so one 

 could imagine what pictures they formed in early summer ; therefore 

 deep dykes and narrow shady lanes would afford congenial homes for 

 various fine species. No mode of cultivating lilies in gardens is equal 

 to that of dotting them through beds of rbododendrons and other 

 American plants usually ])lanted in peat ; the soil of these, usually 

 and very unwisely left to the rhododendrons alone, being peculiarly 

 suited to the majority of the lily trilie. As for the wild garden, Mr. 

 (t. F. Wilson sent me a stem of Lilium superbum last year (1880) 

 grown in a rirh woody bottom, 11^ feet high I 



Snowflake, Leucojum. — I have rarely seen anything more Ijeauti- 

 ful than a colony of the summer Snowflake on the margin of a tuft of 

 rhododendrons in the gardens at Longleat. Some of the flowers were 

 on stems nearly 3 feet high, the partial shelter of the Ijushes and good 

 soil causing the plants to be unusually vigorous. Both, the spring and 

 summer Snowflakes (L. vernum and L. a?stivum) are valualjle plants for 

 wild grassy places. 



Gentian Lithosperm, Lithospermum prostratum, — A very dis- 

 tinct, prostrate, hairy, half-shrubby plant, with a profusion of flowers 

 of as fine a blue as any gentian. Thrives vigorously in any deep sandy 

 soil, and in such well deserves naturalisation among low rock plants, 

 etc., in sunny positions. Probably other species of the genus will be 

 found suitalde for the same purpose. 



Lychnis. — Handsome medium - sized perennials, with showv 

 1 dooms, mostly of a brilliant rose or scarlet colour. If the type 

 was only represented l)y the rose campion it would be a valuable 

 one. This is a beautiful object in dry soils, on which it does not 

 ])erish in winter. They are most fitted for association with dwarf or 

 medium-sized perennials, in open places and in rich soil. 



Honeysuckle, Lonicera. — Such favourites as these must not be 

 omitted. Any kind of climbing Honeysuckle will find a happy home 

 in the wild garden, either rambling over stumps or hedgerows, or 

 even planted by themselves on banks. 



Pea, Lathyrus. — Much having lieen lately written concerning the 



