Jn.T 13, 1912. 



PHE GARDENERS* MAGAZINE. 



631 



LILIES IN THE GARDEN. 



The lily planting season begins in August^ 

 as soon as the stems of Lilium candiduin 

 have yellowed. We should all realise what 

 a magnificent plant this is, from the de- 

 corative point of vieWj how easy of culti- 

 vation also, and attractive in foliage long 

 before blossoming time. Owing probably to 

 its stately growth it is usually employed in 

 borders, but for bedding purposes it is not 

 only highly ornamental, but actually sup- 

 plies a want. The best method is to alter- 

 nate it all over the middle of a bed of some 



of mingled parts 

 and coarse sand. 

 The flower garde 



leaf-mould, Many a damp low-level lawn could contain 



can be splendidly 

 enriched by a border in the open, in which 

 scarlet and salmon sweet peas are grown 

 between rows of white lilies. White sweet 

 peas similarly give a delightful display if 

 introduced in autumn or spring hetw 

 lines of the rose or the crimson variety of 

 Lilium speciosum. This Japanese lily 

 should be planted in September or October, 

 so that it may have its best chance for the 

 following season. None of the varieties are 

 really costly, the most expensive, L. spe- 

 ciosum album novum, an immense white, 

 with effective yellow anthers and broad 

 foliage, being obtainable for eighteen shil- 

 lings a dozen. Melpomene is one of the 

 most handsome, as the crimson petals are 



bulbous flower, such as the tulip or hya- 

 cinth, to be followed by some bushy bed- 

 ding subject of considerable height, such as 

 well-developed pelargoniums, heliotropes, 

 marguerites, or fuchsias, the leaves of which 



will cover the lily stems when these at last 



become unsightly. Either pink or ver- L. speciosum album Krs&tzeri, a giant white 



spotteil with purple and edge<l with white. 



beds of this King of Lilies, or shrubbery 

 clearings might have groups of it planted. 

 The safest method is to pot the bulbs and 

 grow them on in frames for putting out per- 

 manently late in spring. 



The later lily planting season w^ill enable 

 us to place vivid-hued beauties where colour 

 Ls especially required, bes 

 dark shrubs, for example, 

 may be had in apricot, lemon, orange, 

 blood-crimson, and gold, the Scarlet Turk's 

 Cap lily, the carmine-spot tcnl Oregon lily, 

 even the common Lilium croceum, or Cot- 

 tager's Orange lily, will supply splendid 

 masses anywhere in sunshine. Dark hues, 

 exceedingly effective by white buildings or 

 silver shrubs, are offered by the varieties 

 of Martagon'lily ; vermilion, orange, gold, 

 and crimson appear in the different Liliums 

 pardalinum. 



Lilium elegans 

 lemon, 



4 



Exhibited by Messrs. J 



A FINE GEOUP OF PHLOXES AND PENTSTEMONS. 



Forbes^ Lim., Hawick, at the Holland Park Show, and described 



our issue of the 6th inst. 



mihon geraniums make a fine show with the 

 snow-white lily spikes rising at even inter- 

 vals between them. If a permanent bed is 

 the object the most satisfactory companion 

 will be a dwarf Polyantha rose, such as the 

 pink Mignonette, which can be trusted 1o 

 bloom early and continue late ; in this case 

 crocuses may form an edging belt, and also 

 be dotted about in groups between the 

 lilies and roses so as to give early colour. 



Sweet peas, having no colour beauty for 

 the first eighteen inches of their stems, 

 can well be associated with a foreground 

 row of the Madonna lily ; the rich soil 

 treatment that the sweet pea demands will 

 suit its neighbour excellently, yet lilies 

 never succeed so well, never exhibit the 

 perfection of thick velvety petal texture, 

 unless given a trench of special compost 

 consisting of six to nine inches of old cow 

 manure well below the bulbs, and a filling 



with orange anthers, and L. s. Schry- 

 makersi, rose-spotted maroon, can be cor- 

 dially recommended. 



The St. Joseph's lily, Lihum longi- 

 florum, should be planted at the end of 

 summer; the long white trumpet blooms 

 may be slightly less effective than the stur- 

 dier blossoms of the Madonna lily, but they 

 are more elegant in api>earance. A fine 

 lawu bed might be partly made up with the 

 silver-variegated kind, the leaves of which 

 are handsomely striped. Then we may make 

 lavish use of the well-known Lilium Harnsi, 

 a member of the same family, and the taller 

 strong-growing LUium longiflorum robus- 

 tum, which flowers rather late. 



A consideration of lilies in the garden 

 would be incomplete indeed without a men- 

 tion of the noble Swamp lily, Lilium 

 gi^ranteum, which reaches a height of twelve 

 feet and has larga heart-shaped leaves. 



Lilies by the waterside are especially 

 lovely, and the bulbs can be safeguarded 

 from excess of moisture by planting them 

 low hillocks of suitiible soil ; the rock 

 garden, too, can have its suitable hlies, 

 such as the scarlet Lilium pompiuiium, L. 

 concoior, the purple-spotted lemon L. cori- 

 dion, and the pink L. Krameri. M H. 



on 



Con- 



Begronia Golden Shower.- 



siderable advances have within recent years 

 taken place in the varieties of tuberous- 

 rooted begonias suitable U^r hanging baskets, 

 and that at the head of thi,s note is one of the 

 finest of all for such a purpose. It was given 

 an award of merit on June 18 by the Boyal 

 Horticultural Society, and is well illustrated 

 in the Gardeners' Magazine for June 29. 

 In colour the large, semi-double blossoms 

 suggest a good form of Rose W. A. Richard- 

 son. — K. 



