House and Garden 
limited. Either tiles, or tiling effect is desirable 
for use in a bath-room to the height of five to seven 
feet. Above this the wall may be painted in oil, 
the ceiling to be given a lighter tint. Many careful 
housewives prefer the simulated tile in bath-room 
and kitchen, to the real article. Where adamantine 
plaster is used, it may be marked off into tiles of 
any size desired; these to be given three coats of 
flat lead and followed by some good enamel. 
1 his treatment can also be used on kitchen walls 
to any desired height. It is not at all expensive 
and gives not only an attractive effect, but one 
which is practical and absolutely sanitary. 
I have in mind a kitchen which is altogether 
charming, where this treatment has been used. 
The tile effect extends five feet from the baseboard 
and is finished by a plate rail of yellow pine like the 
standing woodwork of the room. This wood is 
left in the natural color and given three coats of 
high gloss varnish which is impervious to heat and 
moisture. 1 he wall above the simulated tile is 
painted in oil as I have described, in a shade of 
soft yellow. At the casement windows are hung 
curtains of blue and white linen toweling, simply 
outlining the windows. On the wide sills of each 
window are placed three little red flower pots of 
exactly the same size and shape, holding blossom¬ 
ing red geraniums growing in them. The blue-and- 
white linoleum used on the floor completes the color 
scheme. 
Talks About Hardy Perennials 
I. PLANTAIN-LEAVED DAY LILY 
By W. C. EGAN 
T HERE is an increasing interest being taken in 
herbaceous perennials. Flower-lovers are 
awakening to the fact that a well-selected 
group of perennials will give a longer succession of 
bloom than one of annuals, are less expensive in the 
end, and become more appreciated as the years roll 
on. Many, like the gas plant, last through several 
generations, and one may care for, and enjoy the 
identical plants their grandmothers cherished and 
admired. 
It is like greeting an old friend to find each spring 
the reappearance of a favorite plant, starting up to 
take its place in the summer gaiety. Some are so 
strong and vigorous that they outgrow the bounds 
afforded them and may he divided, and the surplus 
exchanged with those of kindred tastes, and those 
thus received are constant mementoes of many dear 
friends. 
I he list of perennials worth growing is long and 
varied and is constantly increasing in number, 
furnishing plants that bloom with the coming of the 
bluebirds, and those that welcome even the belated 
frosts of fall. 
I propose to call attention in the columns of this 
magazine to some of the most reliable and attractive 
forms, many of them already friends to the brother¬ 
hood of flower-lovers. 
One of the earliest importations from japan, 1830, 
was the plantain-leaved day lily, Funkia subcordata. 
It belongs to the lily family and often bears the 
simple name of day lily, but that is a dangerous one 
to order by, as it is more often applied to the lemon- 
scented day lily, Hemerocalhs flava. 
I had a friend, not over-posted in floral nomencla¬ 
ture, who upon admiring a group of these Funkia, 
asked its name and was told “day lily.” The 
following spring he ordered twenty-five “ day 
lilies” and received Hemerocalhs -flava of which 
he was over-stocked already. The flowers of 
the Funkia and Hemerocalhs last but one day — 
hence their common names. The term plantain¬ 
leaved day lily fully describes it, as the foliage some¬ 
what resembles that of the plantain—being six to 
nine inches long, and five broad, over-lapping each 
other, giving the appearance of a shingled dome 
eighteen to twenty inches high and sometimes, in 
old plants, three to four feet wide. Out of this 
light green foliage appears, in August, the flower¬ 
ing stalks each bearing nine to fifteen tubular, white, 
orange scented flowers only one or two to a stem 
open at a time. 
This plant loves deep, moist, rich soil, and it 
deserves it, and prefers a somewhat shaded situa¬ 
tion. In grouping them they should be planted 
four feet apart, and in time tbeir foliage will meet. 
This foliage dies back in winter and as each crown 
occupies but a foot or so of surface space, there is, 
in early spring, quite a vacant area. This is an ideal 
situation for spring flowering bulbs—snowdrops, 
crocuses, squills, chionodoxas and narcissus, all of 
which will bloom and be out of the way before the 
Funkia wants the space. The foliage of these 
spring bulbs dies back after the blooming period is 
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