The Garden Magazine, August, 1924 
413 
AS THE TENT LILY GROWS IN PENNSYLVANIA 
“ I took the above photograph of Lilium candidum,” writes Mr Kains, “at State College, Pa., in 1915 
or 1916. I he clump was thiiving alongside a lane where it had taken care of itself literally for years ’’ 
II. THE ANCIENT LINEAGE OF THE ASCENSION LILY 
M. G. KAINS 
jF ALL the hundreds of gardens I know, I presume not as 
many as one per cent, can boast of any Lilies, and of 
those that do contain Lilies of any kind probably not 
one in ten can show the Madonna Lily (Lilium 
candidum) established. 
This species, believed to be the Lily of the Bible, because 
native to Palestine and adjacent countries, is supposedly the 
one from which the whole Lily family is named (li, meaning 
white). It has doubtless been longer in cultivation than any 
other Lily, as may be suggested by its numerous popular names; 
for instance, Annunciation Lily, Ascension Lily, St. Joseph’s 
Lily, Lent Lily, Madonna Lily, and Bourbon Lily. 
Having so many names suggests how readily adaptable it is 
to widely varying garden conditions. It is one of the ten or 
twelve most easily grown species and should therefore be in 
every garden. In any ordinary garden soil, whether in partial 
shade or full sun, but preferably the former, it will take care of 
itself and produce stems two to four feet tall, bearing in late 
June or July one to sometimes twenty delicately perfumed, 
waxy white flowers each three to four inches long and wide. 
Among the varieties it has developed is one (Lilium candidum 
speciosum) with smaller Bowers which open about two weeks 
later than the type; another (var. maculatum) has flowers 
veined and streaked on the outside with purple; in still another 
(var. foliis-albo) the leaves have a broad edge of yellow. The 
double form, in which the flowers are abortive, is not worth 
growing except as a monstrosity. In fact, none of the varieties 
is an improvement on the original form. 
SOME COLORS THAT PLAY THE CHAMELEON 
I N CONNECTION with indoor decorations which are intended to serve their 
purpose under artificial light, it is well to know and remember that certain 
reddish flowers with a magenta cast are difficult to harmonize because they 
become a brilliant red under the incandescent or similar light, the magenta dis¬ 
appearing almost entirely. The effect is quite startling. 
Peony Felix Crousse, for example, while quite a satisfactory Peony in many 
situations, has considerable of this difficult magenta in its composition. If one 
makes the experiment of taking a flower in the daytime in the normal light 
(better not right in the sun, if memory serves rightly) of a room and then carries 
it into an artificially lighted room, convincing evidence of this fact will be 
afforded. One can hardly believe his eyes! The flowers of the Double Rosepink 
Campion (Lychnis viscaria flore-pleno) and others of a similar color, are, of 
course, affected in the same way. While the Carnation Gorgeous—fine in the 
daytime—would not ordinarily be considered as having anything of the magenta 
in it, becomes so much finer under artificial light as to warrant the conclusion 
that there must be some magenta in it after all. 
At one of the exhibitions in Horticultural Hall, Boston, there was an exhibit 
of large plants of Azalea indica in different varieties. When first seen in the 
daytime the color combinations were so violet that they gave a person the 
“ blues,” but seen again at night the colors harmonized perfectly, as though some 
magic wand had been passed over them. 
Hans J. Koehler 
