LILIUM GIGANTEUM 5 



laterally only a little way underground. The roots 

 look like those of a young tree or the great spreading 

 ones of Eremurus robustus. The flowering stems have 

 need of these great roots, for they rise to a height of 

 from ten to fourteen feet, though they are perhaps best 

 at from ten to eleven feet. In the last days of June, 

 or the earliest days of July, the great trumpet-shaped 

 flowers expand, each eight to nine inches long, and 

 four or five inches across the mouth. They are 

 greenish-yellow when they begin to open, but pure 

 white when fully opened, when they show a red- 

 purple band inside. The great stem bears from 

 twelve to twenty, or even more, of these flowers 

 within some two feet of the top. 



The fragrance is powerful and delicious, and carries 

 far in the still summer evenings when the light is 

 waning, at which time these grand Lilies look their 

 best. 



Planted bulbs, unless quite full-sized, do not flower 

 for two or three years ; indeed it is much better that 

 they should not do so, but that they should slowly 

 grow and gather strength. The flower coming the 

 next year on a large-sized bulb is rarely a good one, 

 and it is better, unless it promises unusual vigour, to 

 remove it and let the bulb grow and strengthen. 

 Unless seed is wanted, it is best for the bulb to remove 

 the upper part of the flower-stem after blooming, as 

 this will help the offsets, although it is a handsome 

 object all the summer, retaining its leaves and its 

 polished greenness, while the large upturned pods 

 are fine things also. 



