13 , i 9 ° 7 - 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
465 
Lilium Hansoni. Uaclaren and Sons. 
Allium kansuense: Flowers sky-blue. Madaren and Sons. 
Hanson’s . . 
- Lily - 
(Lilium Hansoni). 
Many varieties of Lily prove rather 
troublesome in gardens, but this one 
comes up year after year in the same soil 
and flowers handsomely during ths month 
of June. It is not .so particular as to 
soil as some people would imagine, pro¬ 
vided it is planted where the soil or sur¬ 
face of the ground will be shaded during 
the heat of the day so as to keep it cool. 
Although Lilies are best kept on the dry 
side during winter, they delight in a free 
supply of moisture when making their 
growth. For this reason we expect that 
most Lilies will be good this year on ac¬ 
count of the cool weather and heavy rain¬ 
fall. 
In selecting a position for it, it should 
be planted amongst Rhododendrons or 
other dwarf growing shrubs akin to the 
Rhododendron, and which require a peaty 
soil for their best development. Even 
herbaceous plants would answer the pur¬ 
pose, provided they make their growth 
about the same time as the Lily, so as 
to shade the ground. The plant grows 
from 3 ft. to 4 ft. in height, and pro¬ 
duces a truss of flowers on the top. The 
segments of these flowers are remarkably 
thick, almost fleshy, and are of a bright 
orange, with crimson spots on the lower 
half. The flower buds are very interest¬ 
ing, because previous to expansion they 
are globular in outline, and remind one 
of Gooseberries or some other fruit rather 
than flower buds. We have seen it doing 
well in a cottage garden this year. 
-f*+- 
A Blue- 
Allium 
(Allium kansuense). 
Very few Alliums are popular garden 
plants, though some are ornamental on 
account of their flowers and others for 
the sake of their foliage. There are at 
least two other blue Alliums, but we con¬ 
sider A. kansuense as the best of them. 
It is only about 6 in. high, with slender, 
grass-like leaves and bell-shaped blue 
flowers in clusters nodding from the end 
of the slender scape. These flowers are 
of a bright sky-blue, and when seen in 
perfection are very handsome indeed. 
The method of growing all of the hardy 
Alliums is to plant them in clumps of 
rather light but rich soil. We mean 
soil containing a good proportion of sand, 
so that the Superfluous moisture may run 
freely away whether from the rainfall or 
melting snow. The reason why they 
succeed so readily in light soil is that 
they make their growth in early spring 
and flower in the early part of summer. 
After flowering, and in many cases before 
it, the leaves die away and the bulbs re¬ 
main dormant till the autumn rains start 
