September, 1907 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



65 



Star tulips must be kept dry all summer (Calochortus The blue-flowered camass (Camassia esculenta) is easily The lemon-colored dogtooth violet (E. citrinum) flow- 

 Maxueanus, var, major) naturalized and thoroughly hardy in Pennsylvania ered for six weeKs from April 25th 



flowers were to be seen all through the month 

 of June. The flower stalks grew ten to twelve 

 inches high and each bore several blossoms, 

 though not more than two were ever open at 

 once. The flowers were white, filled toward 

 the centre with delicate blue-tipped hairs; 

 most unlike any of our Eastern native flowers 

 and decidedly worth while growing in my 

 garden. 



The common globe tulip {Calochortus 

 pulchellus, known in the trade as C. amabilis) 

 was also very satisfactory. It grew about 

 ten inches high and every bulb blossomed. 

 By June 17 th, the flowers were in their prime 

 and a gay show they made, lasting well into 

 July. The flowers are a brilliant yellow with 

 three petals, each over an inch long but curled 

 in like a pinwheel. The plants were very 

 thrifty, but of course have to be taken up 

 after flowering and replanted in the fall. 



Very different from those already men- 

 tioned, vet belonging to the same family, 

 is the camass (Camassia esculenta), the bulb 

 of which the Indians used to eat. It has 

 blue flowers wonderfully like an ornithogalum 

 and they are borne in the same manner, so 

 that at first glance one might be misled. I 

 set bulbs of this six inches deep and with 

 sand close about them. The leaves grew 

 long and glossy like those of a hyacinth and 

 the flowers opened early in June. They 

 were carried on a stalk eighteen inches high 

 and were pale lavender in color, opening 

 in the afternoon. Only a few on a spike 

 are open at a time, however, those at the 

 bottom fading before the top buds open. 

 The camass is easily established in this 

 climate; it does not spread rapidly from off- 

 sets but can be raised from the seed, the 

 seedlings blooming in three years. It is an 

 attractive plant for borders and the sides 

 of water gardens. 



One of the best lilies in cultivation, but 

 which is not well known, is the California 

 leopard bog lily (Lilium pardalinum), the 

 Western counterpart of our American Turk's 

 Cap lily (Lilium superbum) that grows so 

 commonly in the meadows. Of three bulbs 

 of Lilium pardalinum only one came up. 

 Usually this plant grows two to three feet 



high, but mine attained only eighteen inches 

 and the flower. stalk carried but three blos- 

 soms, whereas well-established bulbs often 

 have as many as ten. The blossoms of 

 pardalinum are larger than those of our 

 Eastern Turk's cap, but not more beautiful 

 as grown in my garden. The leopard bog 

 lily is one of the few Western bulbs that can, 

 perhaps, be naturalized here in the East, and 

 I am hoping for much better results from 

 it next summer, when the bulbs, set one 

 foot deep in a well-drained soil, are better 

 established. 



All of my California bulbs were left in 



Henderson's dogtooth violet (E. Hendersontt) is two 

 weeks later than citrinum. Tlower lavender 



the ground during the summer of 1906 and 

 the winter of 1906-1907. 



All of the adders' tongues ripened seeds 

 during the summer, matured their foliage 

 and disappeared under the mass of late 

 blooming plants that the bed contained. In 

 late fall the beds were protected for winter 

 as previously described. 



The following spring the foliage of the 

 adders' tongues appeared with the crocuses. 

 They flowered from the first week in May 

 to the middle of June; it was a late spring. 

 All of the plants had improved for the year 

 in our garden. The flowers were larger and 

 more abundant than the first season. 



All the varieties of star and globe tulips 

 (Calochortus) were left in the ground by 

 way of experiment. Calochortus Benthamii 

 appeared late in June, but the plants were 

 only two or three inches high. 



Calochortus Maweanus, var. major, which 

 did so well the first summer, had plainly 

 deteriorated and showed that it must be 

 packed in sand during our showery summers 

 if it is to be successfully flowered here. 



On the other hand Calochortus amabilis 

 bloomed much more freely the second 

 summer than the first, and seemed to be 

 perfectly satisfied with our climate. Several 

 well-developed flowers grew on each stalk. 

 The blooms lasted over a month. It seems 

 adapted for borders where a deep yellow is 

 desired, and I feel that it will become thor- 

 oughly naturalized. 



The camass (Camassia esculenta) thrives 

 as if it never knew another climate and 

 bloomed lustily. The middle of July the 

 seeds from its several flower stalks were 

 readv to gather. With these I hope to 

 establish a clump of plants that will be yet 

 more hardy than the parents. 



Although only one of the three bulbs of the 

 leopard bog lily (Lilium pardalinum) planted 

 in the fall of 1905 bore flowers, this season 

 nine stalks appeared from the three bulbs, 

 three of which were in flower about the 

 middle of July. On the whole, I am 

 satisfied with the results, for I had them 

 in bloom from the first week in May to 

 early August. 



