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The Garden Magazine, January, 1924 
the other hand, were as carefully planted and tenderly treated as it 
was possible. In July the superbum (?) Lilies came into full bloom, 
lovely pure white, very fragrant, seven and more flowers to a stalk. 
The foliage was a good deep green, rather heavy at the base but 
growing shorter and more sparse upon the stalks whi h were a good 
three feet high. All the bulbs did not send up flower stalks. A few 
put out as much as six inches to a foot of growth last November and 
did not die down all winter. 
But my cherished candidum Lilies were not successful—and only 
two out of the whole lot grew—and only one of these showed any 
bloom, that one having a single bud, which had a very sorry droop. 
Other Lily bulbs I purchased were such failures I have been for¬ 
aging for information, and amongst books on the subject purchased 
“Lilies”, by Adams, who is considered an excellent authority. Upon 
opening the book, the first picture I saw in it was an exact illustration 
of my superbum Lilies, which the author calls candidum or Madonna 
Lilies. Yet the bulbs 1 planted were like good-sized onions and not 
like the scaly bulbs I have always known as candidum. Please, 
somebody, what really were my superbum(?) Lilies, for 1 want to get 
more of them.— Eileen H. Butts, Mich. 
—It looks as though the “wires were crossed” somewhere! Your 
account of the behavior of the bulb, habit, and growth of your reputed 
superbum, is that of candidum, the white fragrant Lily that makes a 
fall growth which persists all winter. We suggest digging up one of 
the bulbs and venture to think it will surely be scaly. But we cannot 
determine a plant without having flowers before us.— Ed. 
Trilliums From Seed 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
HAVE thousands of seeds of Trillium granditlorum. How can 1 
raise plants—sow—how long to come up and blossom? I have also 
seed of T. sessile—-what are the conditions for raising them? 1 raise 
hundreds of Scilla under the shade of shrubs and have no trouble with 
them, but so far have had no success with the Trilliums.—J. O. Tilton, 
Mass. 
—Sow seeds of Trilliums as soon as ripe. Follow Nature’s lead and 
select a cool shady place and soil similar to that found in the woods 
where Trilliums flourish. Blooming plants may be then expected in 
two or three years’ time. Both species may be handled in the same 
way. Possible reasons for lack of success heretofore are seed that 
was either not quite ripe or too old. It does not retain its vitality 
long and should be sown when quite fresh. Trilliums are certainly 
among the most desirable of our spring-flowering plants. They can 
be made to do well even in city backyards but flourish best when 
planted alone in masses.— Ed. 
The Smaller Spring-flowering Bulbs 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
N THE Open Column of the June number R. F. Howard does a 
mighty good thing in drawing the attention of the readers of The 
Garden Magazine to those lovely early flowers which more than any¬ 
thing else announce the coming of spring. 
1 am rejoicing with him that those bulbs may be imported again, at 
least for some years, and I hope that many florists will make the propa¬ 
gation of those plants part of their business so that a generous supply 
will always be available even if importation should again be prohibited 
after three years. 
It seems to me that it should not be difficult to grow all the plants 
mentioned in this country. It might, however, be helpful to know 
something about the conditions under which they grow wild. 
Leucojum vernum (Snowflake) is the earliest of them all. It is a 
native of central Europe. 1 remember having picked flowers as early 
as the middle of February in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland. The 
flowers are bell-shaped, of a creamy white, the six lobes ending in a green 
tip; and it is not rare to see them coming out through several inches of 
snow. (This is the flower Mr. Howard erroneously calls Galanthus 
Elwesi). It seems to like a fairly rich and moist soil and half shady 
exposure. As it grows in clusters, it must be assumed that besides its 
propagation through seeds it multiplies also by forming new bulbs 
much in the manner of the Tulips. 
Leucojum Elwesi is a native of southern France. Whoever has spent 
early spring on the French Riviera must have made the excursion over 
the Grande Corniche near Nice, and there as a part of that undescriba- 
ble symphony of color in early April he cannot have failed to notice 
amidst the gorgeous vegetation covering the rocky hillside, those 
slender stalks with two or three cream-colored, bell-shaped flowers about 
18 inches from the ground. Those were Leucojum Elwesi. 
About one or two weeks after Leucojum vernum, in the Beech woods 
higher up in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland (2000 feet above sea 
level) the real Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) opens its pure white 
flowers. Like Leucojum vernum it has two leaves, and only one flower 
on a stem about 4 inches high. The flower is bell-shaped too, the 
corolla, however, consisting of six petals of which the exterior three are 
longer (about f of an inch) than the interior three (| inch). It never 
grows in clusters; the plants are, as a rule, several feet apart from one 
another. The way they grow reminded me much of the Lady’s-slipper 
(Cypripedium acaule) in the Kittatinny Mountains of New Jersey. 
The soil is a limestone covered with a few inches of mulch formed na¬ 
turally through decomposition of the fallen leaves of the Beech trees. 
It has been adopted as a garden flower throughout Switzerland, espe¬ 
cially for borders in a northern exposure and seems to thrive well in a 
light soil without any attention. 
Of the Scillas only sibirica seems to be known as a garden flower. 
It is unquestionably the prettiest representative of this family. I 
would like, however, to draw the attention of your readers to its cousin 
of western Europe, Scilla bifolia. The plants grow about 4 inches high 
with two leaves similar to those of Leucojum vernum; the flower stalk 
has from 3 to 10 starlike flowers of a blue of the shade of Myosotis and 
the size a little smaller than sibirica. They are very early and generally 
open their flowers before Leucojum and Galanthus have closed theirs. 
Scilla bifolia does not seem to be very particular about the soil. Al¬ 
though it prefers light woods, I have seen it bloom in March year after 
year in rich meadows of which the grass was cut regularly in May. 
Two kinds of Muscari grow wild in Europe. The smaller is about 
5 inches high and has all its flowers (from 10 to 20) in one cluster at the 
end of the flower stalk. It grows in sunny meadows throughout 
Switzerland and eastern France. It would be well suited for borders. 
(I do not remember its Latin name.) The other kind, Muscari race- 
ntosum, grows about two feet high and has two different kinds of flowers 
on the same stalk. It is found principally in vineyards of southern 
France. 1 have seen it in a garden in this vicinity; it is well adapted 
to mass planting. 
Fritillaria, although not mentioned by Mr. Howard, is another very 
pretty April flower that merits recommendation. It is found wild 
only in a few moist meadows in western Switzerland and eastern France; 
but wherever it grows, it covers many acres with its very peculiar check¬ 
erboard-like flowers. 
In this connection I would like to mention some very pretty hardy 
perennials of the family of RanunculaCeae which bloom in March and 
April just at a time, therefore, when our gardens are still not very attrac¬ 
tive. They are: Eranthus hyemalis, Adonis vernalis, Anemone mon- 
tana, Anemone Pulsatilla. All four grow wild in central and western 
Europe. Perhaps some readers have them in their gardens and could 
tell us where seeds may be had.—A. Zimmerli, New Brunswick, N. J. 
New Yuccas From Old? 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
HE stately Yucca is uniquely fitted for garden decoration, and 
as it is one of the few architectural plants, it can be used to ad¬ 
vantage about the house itself. It is satisfying as it is, but 1 have been 
wondering if there may not be neglected possibilities in this plant. 
If plant breeders should see fit to spend their time and wisdom on 
it, might we not even acquire new colors? [Not very likely! Ed.] 
I bought a dozen plants some years ago. This summer there were 
sixteen flowering stems. Although all the plants were supposed to be 
Yucca filamentosa there are differences both in manner of growth and 
in the flowering spikes. Two plants have recurving, drooping leaves 
which are decidedly different from the erect, stiff leaves of the true 
Yucca filamentosa. I suppose these are a different species. Could it 
be Yucca gloriosa which is described as having gracefully recurved 
foliage? Or, 1 believe there is still another Yucca with which 
I am not familiar that has this type of foliage. Of the plants which 
do not differ in leaf growth I note some distinctions in the flowering 
stems. There is one whose flower spike is shorter, more compact; 
the flowers more crowded, not drooping but erect, or nearly so. Still 
another distinction is in color of buds. In some plants, both stem 
and unopened buds are strongly flushed with red. Indeed, from the 
appearance of the plant one would naturally expect a pink flower. 
However, the buds open to the usual cream color. These variations 
in so small a number of plants lead one to conclude that by raising a 
great many Yuccas one might, by selection, acquire something decid¬ 
edly different. I believe the Yucca is readily grown from seed, but 1 
have never attempted this— Amelia H. Botsford, Edgemoor, Del. 
