108 



The Garden Magazine, April, 1920 



Pardalinum can be obtained in some deep vermilion and crimson 

 shades that are extremely beautiful. It may be that one of 

 these will some day prove to be the source of the big red Lily 

 the world is looking for. When ordering L. Humboldtii be 

 sure to specify the variety magnificum as it is a sure bloomer 

 and a vigorous grower; the flower, heavily blotched with orange 

 and vermilion over a gold background, is hardly so beautiful 

 as the chaste, clear orange blossom of the type, but you are 

 certain to have flowers when you plant it. 



Several of the Pacific Coast Lilies excel any other group in the 

 genus for grace, delicacy of coloring, and exquisite fragrance. 

 L. washingtonianum, the Redwood Lily (L. rubescens), and 

 L. Parryii, are a beautiful trio of shade-lovers. Give them 

 plenty of leaf-mold and good drainage — but give them lots of 

 water, too. All three.are deliciously fragrant. Lilium Parryii 

 may well rank as one of the sweetest of all flowers. The Wash- 

 ington Lily and the Redwood Lily are tall growers with regular 

 whorls of leaves arising at uniform intervals along the stalks. 

 Both are trumpet-shaped, opening white or pinkish and fading 

 to a wine-purple with age. The latter has segments recurving 

 more closely at the tips, and fades to a deeper wine-color. The 

 Mountain Lemon-lily (L. Parryii), is more rare, shorter, and does 

 not bear a great number of flowers like the others. It is a true 

 trumpet shape, and in color a beautiful glowing lemon, often 

 unsullied by a single tinge of foreign color, and yet again faintly 

 spotted with brown. 



Other California Lilies worth mentioning are L. parvum from 

 the Sierras with tubular erect flowers in orange or yellow, and L. 

 Roezlii, a good yellow Turk's-cap. The long-lost L. Kelloggii is a 

 gem, like a miniature Leopard Lily, but with a ground color of 

 blush-white dotted lightly with crimson. I have seen it but once, 

 but I shall always remember it as among the daintiest flowers. 



California Lilies normally produce excellent crops of seed 

 and hybridize readily. The Leopard Lily a good seed bearer, 

 crosses readily with the Humboldt Lily, and the progeny is very 

 vigorous and free-flowering. This would be a good cross for 

 any one to start with in plant hybridizing. 



Taken as a whole, the Lilies of Japan and China comprise 

 among their number the larg- 

 est, the hardiest, and the 

 most beautiful of the entire 

 genus and seem to offer the 

 most promising field to the 

 hybridist. The immense, 

 waxy, fragrant flowers of the 

 Gold-banded Lily have won 

 for it great popularity among 

 Lilies. But it does not 

 usually last more than two 

 or three years in cultivation. 

 Still, 1 love it well enough 

 to invest in a case of new 

 bulbs every year. L. spec- 

 iosum (the lancifolium of 

 the florists) is a universal 

 favorite on account of its 

 vigor and beauty. The Tiger 

 Lily comes from the Far East, 

 also. Among the best known 

 of the large trumpet-shaped 

 Lilies is the Easter Lily (L. 

 longiflorum) and all its var- 

 ieties. L. Ukeyur a reputed 

 hybrid is as a matter of fact 

 one of the many forms of longi- 

 florum like the Easter Lily. 



Lilium Henryii is probably 

 the hardiest Lily in the world, 

 and the most resistant to the 

 Lily disease. It bears great 

 quantities of seeds, which 



THE PLACE OF THE LILY IN THE GARDEN 



Surroundings that are naturalistic as this Clematis hung wall in the 

 garden of Mr. Hugh D. Auchincloss at Newport, R. I., emphasize the 

 rich beauty of all the great Lily tribe and are their proper environment 



germinate quickly and bloom in three years. It multiplies 

 rapidly by means of bulblets along the stem below the surface 

 of the ground. It will grow in any kind of soil, and in sun or 

 shade. It is a tall grower. 1 have seen it nine feet high 

 bearing more than thirty blossoms with a bulb four pounds in 

 weight and twenty-two inches in circumference. The foliage is 

 dark and leathery in texture, able to withstand insects, wind, and 

 disease. The petals are recurved of medium size, and a delight- 

 ful light orange in color. This Lily was discovered in 1888 by 

 Dr. Henry in the province of lchang, growing at a great eleva- 

 tion in great masses drooping characteristically over the brink 

 of a steep limestone gorge, with myriads of interlaced golden 

 blossoms. This was only the forerunner of other notable dis- 

 coveries in China and our stock of desirable hardy plants has 

 been greatly enriched within very recent years by the introduc- 

 tion of two Lilies which at once became popular. These are 

 Lilium regale and L. Sargentiae. 



With the advent of these and the older L. Henryii, a new era 

 dawned in Lily culture. Here is a trio of Lilies which thrive in 

 ordinary loam, with full exposure to the sun. They seed freely 

 and abundantly. The Regal Lily, well named indeed (Lilium 

 regale) threatens to take rank as the "Queen of All Lilies." It 

 has a long trumpet, which flares widely. The broad face of the 

 segments expands a pure glistening white that melts almost 

 imperceptibly to a beautiful light lemon deep in the throat, 

 which is devoid of the objectionable green seen in longiflorum. 



Lilium Sargentiae is much like L. Brownii, but it is stronger 

 and taller. The blossom is narrower than in regale, white 

 inside with purplish streaks overlaying white on the outside. 

 It is not heavily scented. In leaves and habit it approaches 

 L. Henryii and also produces bulblets in the axils of its leaves. 

 May we not look to these Lilies to produce hybrids that com- 

 bine beauty and vigor? With the idea of combining the greatest 

 beauty with the greatest vigor, for the last five years 1 have 

 tried to secure a cross between L. Henryii and L. auratum. 

 I haven't succeeded yet, but I am prompted to continue from 

 the fact that I get an encouraging growth in the capsules at the 

 start. However, after attaining a certain size, they stop grow- 

 ing and shrivel. Some one 

 in a different locality may be 

 more successful. 



The cross with Lilium 

 Henryii which produced L. 

 kewense should be tried in 

 every garden. L. Brownii 

 was the other parent. An un- 

 likely result one would think, 

 but with plants "you never 

 can tell." L. speciosum is so 

 much like L. Henryii that the 

 latter is often called the "yel- 

 low speciosum," yet I have 

 tried to cross the two again 

 and again, without even the 

 slightest swelling of a capsule 

 to encourage me. 



There is a tradition of a 

 cross between L. auratum 

 and L. speciosum, made away 

 back in the 'sixties when 

 auratum was first introduced. 

 It is unfortunately extinct, 

 but is said to have been a 

 magnificent flower. Will 

 some enterprising enthusiast 

 try to replace this long -lost 

 treasure? 



[Some remarks on the ac- 

 tual work of "crossing" will 

 be found on page 1 38 of this 

 issue.] 



