BODDINGTON S '^A4<x£ltV BUlFs 



101 



LILIES 



Do not plant Lilies in the open; a partial shade is essential for successful 

 cultivation in the hot climate of America 



By ARTHUR HERRINGTON. author of "The Chrysanthemum." and 

 a practical writer on Horticultural Subjects 



The white Lily has ever been esteemed as "Flora's" emblem of purity, 

 but the Lily family, as a whole, has not been accorded that popularity and 

 prominent representation in gardens it rightly deserves. 



"Consider the Lilies of the fields, how they grow " — American, European 

 and Asiatic. A chain of Lilies encircles the Northern Hemisphere from the 

 Pacific coast eastward, across this vast continent, thence through Europe 

 and Asia, and ending only in Japan and the Philippines. Their geographical 

 distribution is peculiar in that they are found only in northern countries, but 

 of more importance still is the fact that they are not all hothouse plants. It may 

 be because certain Lilies are largely grown in pots in greenhouses in great 

 quantities every year, that our thoughts have been diverted from the true 

 possibilities of the family as a whole as garden flowers. 



A Lily garden is a glorious possibility of easy attainment, with one-half of 

 the world paying tribute of beauty thereto. Out of the abundance of the Lily 

 family we may make selections and suitable plantings that will ensure a com- 

 plete succession of Lilies blooming from June until November, — a changing 

 garden picture unequaled in gorgeous beauty, with the added feature of per- 

 manency in succeeding years. The cost is not prohibitive, because the 

 majority of the best garden Lilies are plentiful and cheap, when we consider 

 their permanent character and their subsequent increase in numbers. With a 

 few exceptions, Lilies are grown in ordinary garden soil of average depth and 

 fertility ; in fact, many of them need no culture at all, only to be once planted 

 and left alone for a number of years, when they may have increased to such an 

 extent as to need lifting and replanting in reduced quantity. Look at our 

 native Lilies— Superbum of the swamps, and Canadense of the fertile meadows ; 

 " they toil not, neither do they spin," but in their season they are pictures of 

 great beauty. These, although natives, are worthy of garden cultivation, and 

 the response to garden culture is seen in greater stature and more abundant 

 blooming. 



The Lily season in the garden opens in June, when the dwarf forms of 

 Lilium elegans and L. T/iunbergianum; numbering at least a score of distinct 

 varieties, open their rich orange or crimson cups to the early sunmier's sun. 

 Next in season comes L. bulbifcrum, L. croceum, L. innbeUatinit, and their 

 allies, in many shades from yellow to dark crimson. As summer advances, 

 new kinds vary the garden scene ; of special prominence being the old white 

 L. caitdidjivt, L. Longiflorum, L. Japonicum Brownii (in its several varieties), 

 L. Chalcedonicum, L. tenuifolium (see illustration), and L. superbum excelsum 

 (ies(aceum). In August, we have L. //<?«r)/z, with its great-branched beds of 

 orange-yellow flowers, borne aloft from 6 to lo feet high, a noble Lily, that will 

 grow anywhere and increase fast. With the Tiger Lilies, and varied forms of 

 L. speciosinn to carry on the (lowering till chill autnm days, it is apparent that 

 we may have five months of Lily bloom in clianging loveliness, and all easily 



T ' I ' ,„ rp 'CI' no ' 



1 mm enui o mm grown kinds. These, too, will awaken a desire to attempt the culture of some 



that demand extra care or special treatment, like the pretty pink Krameri, the golden Auratum, or the giant L. giganteum. 



Whilst Lilies are beautiful anywhere, they may be doubly so by planting in S|)ecial associations ; for exanijile, among rhodo- 

 dendrons or other shrubs, not too thickly planted, they are actually improved, enjoying a partial shade to their roots. Lilies, and 

 paeonies too make an admirable combination, the one succeetling the other in blooming, and both mutually helpful to each other. 

 Make a great bed or border by deeply digging and manuring the soil ; then plant it with Lilies and pcconies, and you have made 

 a planting that will grow into a floral feature that need not be changed or disturbed for ten years. 



