72 
when the whole flower bursts into full 
bloom. It thus remains spread for about 
fifteen minutes; by six o’clock it is entirely 
closed, and is already retreating into the 
water. There are several other kinds in 
South America of unknown, but probably 
similar, habits. They are only likely to 
appeal to the night watchman. 
THE GIANT VICTORIAS 
The queen of all the water-lily tribe, if not 
of the whole vegetable world, is the wonderful 
night-blooming Victoria. Everyone should 
know its gigantic saucer-shaped leaves. 
They are often six feet across, perfectly cir- 
cular in outline, with the margin turned up, 
four to eight inches at right angles to the 
water surface. Each leaf is a veritable boat, 
with capacity to float the weight of a man. 
The under side of. the leaf presents a mar- 
velous network of girder-like veins for the 
support of the giant structure. A strong 
plant should have three or four such leaves 
in perfect condition at one time. 
The flower is no less remarkable. It 
floats on the water, and regularly reaches 
twelve to eighteen inches in diameter. In 
appearance it is a huge and very double 
water-lily. The numerous petals are delicate, 
almost like chiffon, and spread out widely 
in every direction. In spite of its size, there 
is nothing coarse about it. Let us watch 
one open. About four o’clock in the after- 
noon, the great brown prickly bud looks very 
forbidding. Soon a most delicious fragrance 
assails our nostrils; it speaks of apples, 
peaches, pineapples—what a friend of mine 
would call a ‘‘symphony” of scents. We 
look and see that the pale petals are showing 
through four crevices in Victoria’s bud. As 
evening advances the great creamy blossom 
opens fully, and the odor becomes almost 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
oppressive. Next morning, about nine 
o’clock, the flower closes. The second even- 
ing it opens an hour or two earlier than before. 
It has lost all of its scent, but has assumed 
a pink color. On the second morning it 
looks half wilted, and during the day it de- 
scends slowly into the water. The Victoria 
blooms almost continuously after it once gets 
started. But it requires a long season and 
a good deal of heat. 
It is in respect to cultivation that the two 
species of Victoria are most readily distin- 
guished. ‘The royal water-lily (V. regia), can 
scarcely be managed without continuous 
artificial heat. Its seeds germinate best at 
about go° F. ‘Tricker’s Victoria (V.Cruz- 
zana, known in the trade as V. Trickeri,) is 
nearly as easy to grow as the tender water- 
lilies. Its seeds germinate best at 65° to 75° 
F. Sown in January or February, good 
plants can be had for the summer. It is 
desirable to have artificial heat in the pond, 
so the plants can be set out in May. If the 
water is maintained at 80° to 85° F., the 
plants should flower in July. It will do very 
well, however, to set out large plants of 
Tricker’s variety in the middle of June (at 
Philadelphia), in a shallow, sheltered, sunny 
pond. ‘Though the plant is perennial in its 
native haunts, it is not practicable for us to 
winter the mature specimens. It is always 
treated in gardens as an annual. V. Cruz- 
zana often comes up in the ponds at Riverton, 
N. J., from stray seeds of the previous season. 
Such plants bloom in late August and Sep- 
tember, but do not ripen seed. 
Nearly allied to Victoria is the Gorgon 
plant (Eurvyale ferox), of Indo-China. It 
has small flowers whose royal blue petals 
make a brilliant contrast with the red inner 
surface of the sepals. ‘The flowers, however, 
are not often seen, and sometimes do not open 
A Rare Early Lily Growing Ten Feet 
PLANTING EREMURUS BEFORE SEPTEMBER lst IS THE SECRET OF SUCCESSFUL CULTIVATION 
F THE more unusual plants of the 
hardy border in early summer com- 
mend me to the eremurus. ‘The plants are 
not often seen because they are both ex- 
pensive and somewhat difficult to grow. At 
all events, many people say so but others 
again say they can grow Eremurus robustus 
(the best of the family) with great ease if one 
or two little details are considered. 
Of prime importance, perhaps, is this rule: 
Plant in August, and positively not later than 
September 1st. The dealers who have had 
most experience always refuse orders for 
delivery at a later date than that. 
The peculiar, almost weird fact of this 
strong sturdy spike bursting through the 
ground in the earliest days of spring, and 
growing apace until it reaches a height of as 
much as ten feet in extreme cases (an average 
height under ordinary cultivation is six to 
eight feet) is indescribable. The individual 
flowers, which clothe the spike for more than 
half its length, have a diameter of about one 
and one-half inches, and are of a pale pinkish 
lilac color. The plant is allied to the as- 
phodels and St. Bruno’s lily, but may well 
be likened to a huge hyacinth, in which the 
flowers, instead of being bell-shaped are 
flatly expanded, very much like those of the 
Star of Bethlehem. 
Flowering at the end of May, this giant 
flower-spike, standing with all the character 
and dignity of the hollyhock (which comes 
into notice later in the season) is especially 
valuable in the garden because it so overtops 
everything around it. The flowers open in 
succession, from the bottom of the spike, 
and the whole period of bloom occupies two 
or three weeks. After flowering, both the 
spike aad leaves disappear, leaving nothing 
to be seen above the ground, and the roots 
should therefore be put out where there is 
litle likelihood of their being injured during 
summer cultivation. 
With so expensive a plant (costing not less 
than $2 for a four year old flowering size 
SEPTEMBER, 1906 
at all. The leaves are circular, two or three 
feet across, without any upturned border. 
It is cultivated like Victoria Cruziana, but is 
more hardy. 
KEY TO THE TENDER NIGHT-BLOOMING 
WATER-LILIES 
Leaves with upturned margins— Victoria 
Sepals smooth above V. Cruziana 
Sepals prickly to the tip V. regia 
Leaf margins not turned up— 
Leaf peltate, entire (not cleft) 
Leaf cleft on one side 
Leaf margin smooth 
Leaf margin sharply toothed 
Euryale ferox 
Nymphaea 
N. Amazonum 
Lotos group 
Flowers pure white— 
Petals spreading flat 
N. dentata and varieties 
Cup-shaped N. Lotus 
Flowers pink— 
Delicate pinkish white; cup-shaped Jubilee 
Blush pink; cup-shaped Smithiana 
Light pink; opening flat delicatissima 
Pure pink; cup-shaped Deaniana 
Pink to red; cup-shaped Kewensis 
Pink; cup-shaped Sturtevantii 
Flowers red— 
Magenta; 10-12 in. across Omarana 
Red; 6-10 in. across Devoniensis 
Red; 6 in. across Columbiana 
Geo. Huster 
F. Trelease 
Deep red; 8-10 in. across 
Crimson; 9-10 in. across 
The differences between the water-lilies of 
the lotos group are too slight to express by 
an analytic key. I never could do better 
than to arrange them in a linear series accord- 
ing to the color of the flower. Indeed, of the 
hybrid Kewensis it is positively stated that 
but one plant was raised originally, and it 
died without leaving any progeny. What 
we now know as Kewensis, therefore, bears 
the name only by courtesy. It is a new cross 
which came out so nearly like its predecessor 
as to be horticulturally the same. 
Long 
Island 
High—By E. V. W. 
root) one needs take a little extra care in 
setting out. Select a situation that is thor- 
oughly well drained, and facing the south. 
The root itself consists of a crown, with a 
great number of radiating, fleshy roots, as 
thick as an ordinary lead pencil, the whole 
thing looking like a gigantic, many-legged 
spider, perhaps eighteen inches across. 
These roots are extremely brittle, and need 
careful handling, much the same way as we 
plant four-year-old asparagus roots, in an 
ample hole, having a slightly elevated centre. 
Carefully work the soil in among the roots 
when planting, and set so as to have the top 
of the crown about two inches below the 
surface of the soil. 
When winter approaches, a very light 
mulch of litter to prevent alternate thawing 
and freezing is necessary. 
When growth begins in early spring, in 
order to save the growing spike from injury 
by frost, it should be covered during cold 
snaps and every night by a box. 
