406 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[June 22, 1912. 



RHODODENDRON VICTORIANUM. 



This magnificent hybrid was raised and first 

 flowered by Mons. Cuvelier, Belgium, in 1887, in 

 which year it was figured and described in the 

 Revue de V Horticulture Beige, p. 49. The parents 

 were R. Dalhousiae and R. Nuttallii, the former 

 being the seed-bearer. Both its progenitors are 

 natives of the Himalayas, and well known in gar- 

 dens. They are somewhat tender and require 

 the protection of a greenhouse, succeeding better 

 if not exposed to frost. In their native habitat 

 both species are more or less epiphytical and are 

 subjected to almost tropical conditions for several 

 months of the year. In cultivation they 



thrive in open, sandy peat or leaf-soil, with an April or early May. 



glabrous, elliptic or elliptic-ovate in shape ; those 

 of R. Nuttallii are from 6 to 12 inches long, 

 elliptic, prominently veined and bullate. 



The hybrid shows the dominance of the seed- 

 bearer (R. Dalhousise) ; the leaves and habit are 

 practically those of the mother parent. The 

 flowers, when they first open, are shaded with 

 green over yellow, but are much larger and finer ; 

 they change rapidly to yellow, become almost 

 pure white with age, and hence are much cleaner 

 and purer than the blooms of either parent. The 

 large and characteristic foliaceous calyx of R. 

 Nuttallii is reproduced on a somewhat smaller 

 scale in the hybrid. The flowers last fresh for 

 several weeks, and are produced during late 



<?. P. R. 



all Oriental Lilies, after reaching a height of at 

 least 8 feet. It is a native of Mount Caucasus 

 and Northern Persia. Nothing can be lovelier 

 than a perfect specimen of this noble Asiatic 

 Lily with its majestic aspect and its affluence of 

 exquisite, citron-coloured flowers. Its only rivals 

 are L. giganteum and L. auratum platyphvl- 

 lum, both of which promise to be extra fine 

 this year. The great Lily of the Himalayas, 

 grown from an offset, usually takes four or five 

 years to reach the full dimensions of its imposing 

 flowering bulb. When grown from seed, as I 

 understand Sir Herbert Maxwell grows it in his 

 " Paradisus Terrestris " at Monreith, it must 

 demand immense patience on the part of its most 

 earnest and enthusiastic cultivator. Unlike many 



[Photograph by C. P. Raffill. 

 FlG. I93. — RHODODENDRON VICTORIANUM (r. DALHOUSIiE X R. NUTTALLIl) : FLOWERS YELLOW, CHANGING TO IVORY-WHITE 



abundance of moisture both in the air and at the 

 roots at all times. Whilst R. Dalhousiae has 

 long, slender growths and a free flowering habit, 

 R. Nuttallii is somewhat tree-like and rather 

 shy in blooming. But what the plant loses in 

 paucity of flowers it gains in their individual 

 size, for the flowers are probably the largest of 

 the genus. They resemble in general effect those 

 of a fine Lily, being often 5 inches long and 3 to 

 3^ inches in diameter. The colour of the expand- 

 ing blossoms is yellow, changing to ivory-white 

 with age, but retaining the richer shade of yellow 

 in the tube. The flowers of R. Dalhoueiae are 

 similar in shape, but much smaller, and with a 

 suspicion of green in the flowers when they fir3t 

 open. This, however, soon changes to yellow 

 and later to almost white. The leaves of R. 



PROSPECTS OF THE LILY SEASON IN 



SCOTLAND. 



Lilies, in south-western Scotland at least, are, 

 for the most part, remarkably early this year. 

 There the variety most advanced in its develop- 

 ment is the beautiful yellow Martagon, Lilium 

 Hansonii, which had its flower-buds distinctly 



formed on May 15. This is one of the most 

 graceful of Lilies, and, at the same time, one of 

 the most reliable, for it has flowered in my gar- 

 den in the same sheltered and comparatively 

 sunny situation for the last ten years, for which 

 adequate reasons I greatly marvel that it is not 

 more frequently and extensively grown. Next to 

 it in promise of early bloom is L. monadel- 

 phum var. Szovitzianum, which is in this region 



Dalhousiae are from 2 to 6 inches long, nearly one of the most stately and grandly effective of 



other Lilies, L. giganteum is greatly benefited by 

 a rich soil, yet I know from sad experience 

 that to give it an application of liquid manure 

 with ammoniacal properties when its flower- 

 buds are formed is a great mistake. On the 

 other hand, a surface mulching, if not too 

 strong, may safely be given at an earlier etage. 

 While L. giganteum grows well in ordinary 

 garden loam, I find that it is most rapidly and 

 adequately established when planted in kf*" 

 mould. I think that this Lily, when it attains 

 to a height of more than 8 feet or, at the most, 

 10 feet, loses a great deal of its floral impressive- 

 ness, by dwarfing, through its extreme elevation, 

 the dimensions of its long and lustrous flowers, 

 the full splendour of which is more distinctly 

 seen on plants of lesser stature. 

 The least satisfactory, perhaps, of all eastern 



