Hardy Perennials 
21 
A Held of Lilium elegans, taken in our Nurseries. (See page 22.) 
LILIES 
No group of cultivated bulbs holds a more important position in horticulture than this grand genus. 
Most of the species are hardy in well-drained soil, but we find by experience that the less frost the bulbs 
have to endure, the stronger they seem to be. Even the kinds native to New England are better and 
stronger if covered to exclude severe frost. A covering of fine hay, a few inches of leaves, or two or three 
inches of strawy manure, as it comes from the horse stables, put over the bulbs in autumn, will be very 
useful as a protection. Some of the stronger growing Lilies are well suited to planting among shrubbery. 
A most important item in the growing of all Lilies is the combination of good drainage with plenty of 
moisture. They require much moisture during the blooming season; still, a soil not well drained seldom 
seems to suit them. Much good can be done in the adding of sand, leaf-mold or turf loam (which is always 
good for the Lily), but if good drainage is not given many species will not thrive. 
Lilies often thrive much better the second year after planting, for the reason that if they are not taken 
fresh from the ground, some or all of the roots have been lost', or dried, and their scales, also, may have 
become shriveled. This is too often the case with imported or store bulbs if the storing has not been in a 
cellar and in soil. Lilies imported in their natural soil, or in damp sphagnum, not allowed to become dry, 
and not deprived of their roots, are much more likely to bloom the first year. In purchasing Lilies, it is 
well to insist upon having only firm and solid bulbs. If they have been wintered in a cellar, it should have 
been in sand or loam, in tight boxes, so that the bulbs could not have shrunken or dried. Bulbs wintered 
in this way are often about as solid as when wintered in the ground. They may be better than if set in the 
ground in autumn and exposed to the rains, which often injure late-planted bulbs. 
The best time to set Lilies is in autumn, it is generally believed, but I have had quite as good success 
with spring setting. If they are taken fresh from the nursery before they have advanced too far in growth, 
they do nicely. The reason why so many believe that Lilies should be set out only in autumn is because the 
main supply has been from store bulbs. Few dealers keep their stocks in the ground, and when stocks 
are not kept in beds or in the ground, unless stored in damp soil in tight boxes, by spring the bulbs become 
so dried and shrunken that a season is required for them to regain their normal strength. Two or three 
exceptions, perhaps, should be made for spring setting. The Candidums, as a rule, do better set not later 
than September 15, and even August 15 is better. Longiflorum and its varieties, also, when set in spring 
must be planted very early. Imported or "store” bulbs, which usually have no roots, should be set in early 
autumn for the best results the following season. Always bear in mind when setting Lilies that they not 
only send out roots to a good depth below the bulbs, but from where the stem joins the bulb to very near 
the surface of the bed roots will form, and these need feeding as much as those at the bottom. Do not let 
the bulbs come in contact with this enriched soil. Place a third of an inch or more of clear sand or light loam 
under or next to the bulb, and cover with the same before the enriched soil is drawn over them. The 
enriched soil often rots the bulbs when allowed to come in contact with them. Do not plant too deep or too 
shallow. If the bulbs could be set 4 inches deep at first, and then, after they are up say 6 inches high, a 
covering of 2 inches of good, fine leaf-mold could be placed over them as a mulch, they would be treated as 
I like to treat them. Without mulch, set 6 inches deep. Well-decayed peat is also an excellent mulch. 
Alwavs plant on fresh ground or ground that has not had Lilies for the two previous years. 
The flowering season of Lilies varies much. Bulbs stored in cellars and planted late often bloom much 
later than those fresh from the ground. The blooming season of Auratum can be much prolonged by set¬ 
ting late in spring a few bulbs that have not started. I have had excellent success with Auratums when 
set in an inch or two of fresh sphagnum moss. It seems to induce root growth at the bottom of the bulbs. 
My stock is for the most part fresh from beds. 
