HINTS ON LILY CULTURE 
A Rare Lily 
L OCCIDENTALS bloomed for me 
♦ the first time this year. I like it 
and think it deserves a wider use. The 
plant resembles L. Roezlii but has a 
better flower. It is a turk’s-cap Lily, 
colored deep orange at the base of the 
petals with small spots. This orange ex¬ 
tends toward the tip of the petal along 
the midrib. Tips of petals are deep red 
and this color extends along the marg¬ 
ins toward the base. Such arrange¬ 
ment is quite distinct from that of 
pardalinum and Roezlii in which the 
red tips fade more or less to merge 
with the orange base. It is a native 
of a very limited region in California. 
I do not know how hardy it is but 
other Californian lilies are quite hardy. 
Being found at high altitudes they 
are accustomed to ice and snow. 
O NE wonders wny such hardy species 
as L. regale suffers winter loss 
here where the temperature seldom 
reaches as low as zero. One of my neigh¬ 
bors reported about sixty per cent 
loss last year and the most plausible 
explanation of it is that it is the thaw¬ 
ing rather than the freezing that does 
the damage. First the ground freezes 
deeper than the bulb is planted; then 
the top thaws and if the ground is 
about level the top of the bulb is in 
stagnant water and soon rots. The 
frozen soil beneath prevents drainage. 
Because my ground is slightly rolling 
I have not had this trouble. 
Wet or Dry? 
D O NOT let your lily bulbs go into the 
winter dry. When you plant them 
or—in the case of an established plant¬ 
ing—if the ground is dry, water them 
well before the ground freezes. Soak 
the roots. Such warning is unnecessary 
here on Puget Sound but correspond¬ 
ents in different sections of the coun¬ 
try where dry Fall weather is the rule 
have written that freezing while dry 
has caused the loss of many bulbs. 
—11— 
