106 



The Garden Magazine, March, 1920 



apparently the time when the bulbs are planted. "What we 

 need to do," says Mr. Griffith, " is to plant early enough for the 

 bulbs to get a good hold on the ground, but late enough so that 

 they do not reach the surface before spring." This is made 

 necessary by the fact that so long as favorable moisture and 

 temperature conditions obtain the plants will not become dor- 

 mant but will go right on growing and producing shoots, which, 

 of course, are readily susceptible to injury. 



As to depth, it was first advised that eight inches was neces- 

 sary to insure protection, but subsequent knowledge has led to 

 the recommendation that four inches is plenty deep if the time 

 of planting is carefully chosen. Heavy feeding is essential and 

 can well consist of generous appli- 

 cations of commercial fertilizer 

 worked into the soil before the 

 bulbs are planted, supplemented 

 by a mulch of strawy but well- 

 rotted manure. The thorough 

 tillage of the bed or border should 

 also be completed before planting 

 time as cultivation or weed de- 

 struction by means of implements 

 later on is almost certain to cause 

 trouble by injuring the thick 

 growth of surface roots sent out 

 by the bulbs. Weed prevention 

 and also the condition of "cool 

 feet "which all Lilies appreciate 

 are best accomplished, in Mr. 

 Griffith's opinion, by planting 

 thick enough so that 

 the plants shade the 

 ground almost com- 

 pletely and by main- 

 taining a mulch 

 throughout the sea- 

 son. Such weeds as 

 then appear are best 

 removed by hand. 



After the first sea- 

 son, when the time 

 at which the bulbs 

 were planted largely 

 determines their abil- 

 ity to go through the 

 winter safely, danger 

 of winter injury is 

 practically elimi- 

 nated by a remark- 

 able ability exhibited 

 by the plants to 

 adapt and adjust 

 themselves to clima- 

 tic conditions. In 

 other words, " if the 

 stems which have 

 flowered are allowed 

 to function until cut 



down by frost the growth of the new bulb for next year's produc- 

 tion is very much delayed," sufficiently, in most cases, so that 

 the resulting stem or shoot will not appear above ground until 

 the following spring. 



This has, in fact, been the condition in Mr. Griffith's home 

 border at Takoma Park, near Washington, where Easter Lilies 

 have been growing since the fall of 191 6 undisturbed except 

 that on one occasion they were dug up late and immediately 

 reset in order to thin out the superfluous bulbs produced by 

 natural propagation. Even last winter when the unusual 

 mildness brought about considerable top growth in February 

 and March, a late cold spell during which the temperature fell 

 to 22 degrees did not injure the plants. 



rvn 



A PAN OF LILY SEEDLINGS THREE MONTHS OLD 



Doubtless it is frivolous to call them Lili-putians at 

 this time, but it is a name that seems to suit them! 



WITH ALLTHE AIRS ANDGRACESOF MATURITY THIS ISSTILL A BENCH OF SEEDLINGS 



As yearlings many will produce a single blossom and from the very beginning 

 plants raised here from seed are stronger and healthier than the imported bulbs 



GRIFFITH recommends the growing of Lilies for out- 

 >or as well as indoor use from seeds rather than bulbs. 

 The slight delay involved is more than overbalanced by con- 

 siderations of economy, freedom from disease and increased 

 interest — or should be in the case of most of us. To this end 

 seed obtained from pollinations made about Easter time (or 

 purchased as the case may be) are planted in flats in mid- 

 January and the seedlings are moved to two-inch pots in March 

 and out into the field in late April or May. Here, according to 

 the Washington experiments, they will begin to flower in late 

 July and will continue to bloom scatteringly until stopped by 

 frost. They may either be left as a permanent planting or 



taken up, potted and flowered 

 indoors during the winter. In 

 the case of some of the 9,000 

 seedlings so handled at Washing- 

 ton, plants dug up and potted in 

 December after a temperature of 

 1 5 degrees had been recorded 

 soon began to develop new, vig- 

 orous growth; while others, taken 

 in a short time before, when 

 nothing colder than 26 degrees 

 had been experienced, went right 

 on growing, developing buds and 

 opening those already formed as 

 though nothing had happened. 



That these Lilies may come to 

 occupy a place in the garden 

 commensurate with their loveli- 

 ness seems within 

 the probabilities, if 

 disease-resistant 

 plants can be pro- 

 duced. Persistent 

 raising of them here, 

 from seed under con- 

 ditions more favor- 

 able for one reason 

 oranotherthan those 

 prevailing in the 

 warmer sections to 

 which we have al- 

 ways looked for our 

 bulbs, may bring 

 about this highly de- 

 sirable result — now 

 that we know how 

 reliably hardy the 

 Easter Lily really is. 

 All Lilies lend them- 

 selves preeminently 

 to naturalistic plant- 

 ing and this variety 

 is of course no excep- 

 tion. And though we 

 have a white Lily 

 already somewhat 

 our gardens (Lilium speciosum album) another 



common in 



will not be unwelcome. 



It is perhaps not amiss to say in passing that the Easter 

 Lily of commerce is not the true Madonna Lily. The latter 

 is Lilium candidum, native to southern Europe and southwest 

 Asia — the flower which tradition says is the true Lily of the 

 Bible. This is variously known as Lent Lily, Madonna Lily, 

 Bourbon Lily, Annunciation Lily, and St. Joseph's Lily; and it 

 too is a hardy and beautiful species, though not so large- 

 flowered as the more commonly grown Lilium longiflorum or 

 Easter Lily of the florists — and of this story of raising the plant 

 from seed. As a matter of fact almost any of the Lilies will 

 grow readily from seed. 



