LILIES— HARDY SORTS 



423 



LlLIUM SPECIOSUM RUBRUM 



These bulbs usually reach 

 us from Japan in November. 

 If wanted for permanent plant- 

 ing in the hardy border and 

 if the ground has been pre- 

 pared and covered with 

 manure to keep the frost out, 

 the bulbs can be planted at 

 once. For the best effect 

 from seven to twelve bulbs 

 should be planted in a 

 clump allowing about ten 

 inches of space between them 

 and planting them about six 

 inches deep. As long as the 

 Winter isn't too severe they 

 will come out nicely in the 

 Spring; however, it is always 

 best to apply a heavy cov- 

 ering for newly planted bulbs. 



Fig. 199.— Lilium: speciosum rubhum. 

 This is a money making LUy. _ With the aid 

 of cold storage bulbs Qie florist is able to 

 cut flowers over a long period 



The florist will most like- 

 ly want his plants to flower 

 in pots This makes their handling easier, if he doesn't want 

 them to flower all at the same time. Even so some plants are in 

 bloom for almost a month from the time the first flower is ready 

 to cut until the last one opens. 



Pot up the bulbs in the pots they are to flower in, getting the 

 top of the bulb just below the surface, water throughly and either 

 place in a cold house or, what is as good, in a deep coldframe with a 

 layer of soil or straw on top of the pots, for while freezing doesn't 

 hurt them, if you can prevent it, so much the better. By the first 

 of March a batch of plants might be brought into a 45-deg. house 

 where active growth will start in a couple of weeks. The plants 

 brought into a Carnation house later on wiU start to flower toward 

 the middle of June; another lot can be brought in by the end of 

 March and treated the same way. By early April aU covermg 

 over the pots should be removed as otherwise the plants wiU grow 

 through it. You can then either bring all of the plants m or only a 

 part, leaving the balance in the frame where they wiU come mto 

 flower by August. 



Cold storage bulbs can be planted from February up to July 

 and these wiU flower from August on until January. We have had 



