CHAPTEE V 



TENDER AND CAPEICIOUS LILIBS 



FoETTJNATE indeed are the gardens that may 

 open their gates to all the lilies. Such there 

 are, lingering somewhere between northern and 

 sub-tropical climes — ^with winters not too cold, 

 nor yet too hot. For them are the glorious 

 company of the tender and capricious lilies — 

 those that will live in northern gardens only at 

 the expense of overmuch coddling, if at all. 



In this class, reluctantly, is placed the won- 

 derful giant lily of the Himalayas (L. gigan- 

 teum). This is a hardy lily and in some parts 

 of England has been naturalized in woods ; but 

 it is not quite hardy enough to stand a very cold 

 winter without an uncommon amount of protec- 

 tion. Even then there is a vast difference be- 

 tween merely blooming and attaining to perfec- 

 tion — ^which means throwing up a stalk ten to 

 fourteen feet tall, with very fine heart-shaped 

 foliage and crowned in July and August with 

 from a dozen to a score of trumpet-shaped blos- 



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