176 MAKING OF A FLOWER GARDEN 



Exceedingly popular and of the easiest culture, the 

 Speciosum lilies are found in nearly all gardens where 

 lilies are known and loved. They differ materially in 

 manner of growth, heing less erect than the candi- 

 dums and auratums, and branching quite freely. The 

 flowers, which are sharply recurved, show the pure 

 white, green veined flower of Speciosum album, the 

 white, splashed and spotted with crimson of Specio- 

 sum roseum and the deeper colored crimson and rose 

 of the Speciosum melpomene. The Speciosums are 

 a more persistent lily than almost any other fine 

 variety and should be planted in permanent quarters 

 and not disturbed as long as they are doing well. 

 Should trouble appear, however, the bulbs should be 

 lifted during their period of rest and examined; 

 usually it will be found that worms or ants have ' 

 made nests in the bulbs, or decay has attacked them. 

 In either case the bulbs should be thoroughly cleaned 

 and all injured or decayed scales removed (usually 

 these may be utilized to start new bulbs, as, if planted 

 in clean sand, each scale will produce, at its base, a 

 tiny bulblet which in two or three years will develop 

 into a blossoming bulb) and the bulb reset in a new 

 place in perfectly clean soil and with sharp sand 

 about it. 



It is a question if any lily other than white will 

 rival our affection for the old candidum, but there 

 are several white lilies and white, tinted with other 



