THE BIG BOG AND ITS LILIES 169 



orange lilies of every cottage garden continues, and 

 in the glow the varieties of Martagon and early- 

 blooming Hansoni pass almost unnoticed. August wit- 

 nesses the triumph of auratum ; but this is soon crowded 

 out by the onslaught of all the Panther-group, Parda- 

 linum at its head, Grayi, Roezlii, Henryi, superbtim, 

 Humboldtn, and canadense pressing close. And, in my 

 garden, while these flames of red-gold fire are blazing, 

 they are half-quenched by the soft violet of the common 

 wild Vicia Cracca, which has established itself as a weed 

 in the bog-garden, and yearly threatens to strangle in its 

 chains of purple the swathed, labouring fires of Liliuvi 

 Roezlii and Lilium pardalinum. Then, after these, while 

 auratum and longiflorum still gloriously linger, speciosum 

 and tigrinum are preparing their buds. With the last 

 lapsing petals of auratum break the first buds of 

 tigrinum, and, in a little, if frosts hold off, the blooms 

 of all the Speciosums open, and carry the triumph of the 

 Lilies far on into the dank, decaying days of autumn. 

 Even in the sere sad hours of late summer, amid the 

 withered herbage of the rock-garden, you hail the terrify- 

 ing scarlet Turk's Caps of Lilium chalcedonicum, repeat- 

 ing in colour, though with more than doubled size, the 

 brief June splendour of tiny little fairy -like tenuifolium, 

 blossoming in the dry, warm, sandy corner of the rock- 

 work. And, last of all, while Christmas approaches in 

 its black horror of death and decay, the towering six-foot 

 spikes of Lilium callosum make their annual silly attempt 

 to flower, pushing more and more strongly every year in 

 ordinary soil, but never, apparently, able to complete 

 their lush growth and come to blossom before the depths 

 of winter. If only it had not this foolish habit, callosum 

 would be a very valuable Lily, magnificently healthy and 

 persistent, tall, long-leaved, graceful, with profusion of 

 reflexing orange flowers. Perhaps in time this new-comer 



