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. 
I his has, in fact, been the condition in Mr. Griffith’s home 
border at 1 akoma Park, near Washington, where Easter Lilies 
have been growing since the fall of 1916 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. 
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 ALL THE AIRS AND GRACESOF MATURITY THIS IS STILL 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 
M R. GRIFFITH recommends the growing of Lilies for out- 
door 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 
common in our gardens (Lilium speciosum album) another 
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. 
