248 AUTUMN FLOWERS 



get homegrown bulbs, even if they cost you twice as 

 much as imported ones, and insist on having the robust 

 variety known as Lilium auratum platypJiyllum. 



Torch lilies (commonly called ' red-hot pokers ') are 

 of many species, and by careful selection the flowering 

 season may be arranged to extend from August to the 

 first hard frost. Strange that a native of Africa should 

 be as much at home under our cloudy skies as any 

 common flag. The blossoms of all the torch lilies have 

 a strong family likeness, varying slightly in fiery tones. 

 For some recondite reason it has been decreed at Kew 

 that the whole genus hitherto known by the easy title 

 of Tritoma, shall in future answer to the awkward 

 name of Knifophia or Kniphofia\ but as I have 

 forgotten how to spell the new name, I must continue 

 to use the old one for the present. The dwarf 

 Tritoma Macowani a charming species has flowers 

 of soft red; the largest kind, T. nobilis, is also the 

 latest to flower, and should have a warm, sunny 

 border under a wall, so as to coax it forward. The 

 handsomest in foliage is T. caulescens, with a yucca- 

 like crop of glaucous leaves growing from the top of a 

 thick stem, and flowering earlier than the rest of the 

 family. Talking of yuccas, how much too seldom are 

 they grown. Yucca gloriosa is an aggravating plant, 

 remaining sullenly flowerless for half a lifetime, then 

 suddenly sending up a fountain of thousands of creamy 

 bells. But Y. filamentosa is much more free, and a 

 group of a dozen of these may be reckoned on giving 

 an average of three fine spikes each year. 



