408 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



LILIES IN DEVONSHIRE. 



By G. S. Patey. 



In reply to the Secretary's request I am pleased to give my small 

 experience in the growth of Lilies. 



I am favourably situated in South Devon, within six miles of the 

 coast, and consequently suffer less from cold than those residing in more 

 inland districts. In addition, my small garden has nearly six feet of good 

 red loam, and within five hundred yards I can obtain the best fibrous peat 

 it is possible to wish for. My collection numbers many species, but all in 

 small quantities, saving a few sorts. This season, owing to the extreme 

 drought, they are not their usual height, in spite of watering, which does 

 not damp the atmosphere. My first Lilies to open this year were 



Szovitsianum and pyrenaicum (June 1), both growing strongly in loam 

 mixed with limestone road-scrapings, which I find most beneficial. L. 

 ruhellum was the next, in height 15 inches, growing in two-thirds of 

 road- scrapings. This Lily with me evidently likes a poor soil, and is now 

 growing the second season. All the forms of auratum are uncertain with 

 me, except platyphyllum, which is now over 6 feet high, with magnificent 

 foliage and about thirty bloom-buds. These grow in peat among 

 Rhododendrons. In the same border I have nepalense, blooming the 

 fourth year, 6 feet, with seven buds. Last season it was 7 feet. I 

 believe it is not common to find this Lily doing so well out of doors. 

 L. Parryi is 3 feet, with seven buds, in peat, together with the follomng 

 species : Grayi, giganteum, Henryi, japonicum Colchesteri, pardalinum, 

 superbum (fig. 209), and several forms of speciosum, as Melpomene, roseum 

 superhum, and Krcetzeri, averaging 4 feet and increasing in number. 

 In the shadier side of my garden (a necessary situation with me for their 

 successful growth), planted in the natural loam with the addition of sand 

 round the bulbs, and with the more tender forms a few nodules of peat, I 



Fig. 209. -L. superbum. 

 (Showing habit.) 



Fig. 210.— L. pomponium. 



