Mid-Century Hybrids 
This year, the fifth that we offer our Mid-Cen- 
tury Hybrid Lilies to you, we find ourselves at the 
turning point in their production. No longer are 
they precious novelties. We grow them now in 
quantity and our prices have been reduced to a level 
that puts them within the reach of all gardeners. 
Some of them are still too scarce and too high priced 
for the general catalog. Others, such as Enchant- 
ment, Pagoda and Valencia should be listed by all 
progressive seed-stores and bulb dealers. 
The Mid-Century Hybrids are, as is probably 
well-known by now, the result of a rather involved 
hybridization process that has included such popu- 
lar lilies as L. tigrinum on the one side and hybrids 
between L. dauricum, L. concolor, L. aurantiacum 
and several others on the other side. Crossing and 
backcrossing these lilies and their offspring, we 
have evolved the strain which we introduce to the 
trade this year. From their parents these lilies have 
inherited the hardiness, the coloring and the re- 
sistance to disease that is to be found in at least 
some of them. The bulbil-bearing characteristic 
comes, for instance, not only from L. tigrinum but 
also from L. bulbiferum. The soft, pinkish-orange 
tones that some of these lilies display, must be as- 
Lily Descriptions and Prices (Continued) 
cribed to the influence of L. tigrinum. The mahog- 
any shades and the rich reds of CAMPFIRE and 
FIREFLAME come directly from L. umbellatum. 
Only one of these lilies, Enchantment, is patented 
(U.S. Plant Patent 862). It may not be grown 
commercially without our express consent. No par- 
allel can be drawn between these hybrids and any 
other group of lilies, ever introduced. The colors 
range from palest straw-yellow to deepest maroon- 
red. The habit varies from pendant, as in the Tiger 
lily, to large outward-facing flowers, never before 
seen, to enormous, vividly colored, upright lilies. 
They also vary in flowering time, in height and in 
their rate of increase. With all these variants, we 
feel that some twenty different named varieties are 
not too many. 
The bulbs of all these lilies should be planted 
about four to six inches deep. They will thrive in 
any good, well-drained, porous garden soil, prefer- 
ably in the full sun. They can be increased very 
easily from scales, underground bulblets, by bulbils 
that form in the axils of the leaves and by ordinary, 
natural division of the bulb. We repeat that our 
“Enchantment” is patented and that it may not 
be propagated commercially without special license. 
Mid-Century Hybrids — Outward Facing 
Nine of our Mid-Century introductions have flowers that face outwards. All these lilies will, under certain 
conditions, produce bulbils in the axils of the leaves. They do not depend on this means of propagation, 
however, as they come quite readily from scales taken at flowering time or shortly after. The stems, in our 
nursery rows, are usually not over three feet tall. A small experimental planting in my garden of bulbs that 
had not been scaled, reached a height of four feet six inches and it is very well possible that these lilies, when 
full-grown, will be taller yet. We have selected the most contrasting colors and the widest variations in habit 
and flowering time for naming and cloning. The lilies we offer below were the outstanding ones in our trials. 
‘“‘Fireflame’”’—Is a short, sturdy lily which may 
have exceptional value as a pot plant in the green- 
house of the commercial grower or amateur, as 
well as in the garden where it can be planted in the 
foreground of the herbaceous border. The color is 
a solid mahogany-red, slightly spotted with black or 
deep maroon. Planted in the full sun in our nursery 
it grew to a height of 25 inches from scaled bulbs. 
The very large flowers face out and have broad, 
heavily textured petals. As many as eight flowers 
to a head, all of them well spaced on good pedicels, 
the buds open over a period of several days. 
each, $0.75 
“Goldrush”— Outstanding golden-yellow lily with 
huge, outward-facing flowers, from three to five 
per stem. The beautifully spaced and proportioned 
head is borne on a deep brown stem with olive 
green, glossy foliage. A sensational novelty of great 
merit. each, $1.00 
Page 42 
“Harlequin” — Unusual shade of salmon-buff, en- 
tirely new in lilies and particularly attractive. The 
large, outward-facing flowers are well spaced and 
look one squarely in the eye. The soft tones of this 
beautiful lily are seen at their best against a setting 
of glossy green foliage. Exquisite border plant but 
equally attractive as a show flower. each, $0.80 
“Parade” — A rich yellow-orange colored lily. 
Down the center of each petal there is a stripe of 
burnished gold. Heavily spotted with minute black 
or maroon dots. The flowers which stand out hori- 
ontally have very wide petals and make a glorious 
show. Twelve to fifteen flowers per stem are no ex- 
ception, yet all are well spaced and have plenty 
of room to open and to develop normally. The good, 
rich, color sparkles in the sun so that “Parade” was 
a real favorite with all visitors to our farms. 
each, $1.00 
