Lily Descriptions and Prices (Continued) 
MID-GENTURY HYBRIDS 
This year, the sixth 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 in- 
herited the hardiness, the coloring and the resistance 
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 ascribed to the 
influence of L. tigrinum. The mahogany 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 com- 
mercially without our express consent. No parallel 
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, vivid 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, 
naural division of the bulb. We repeat that our 
“Enchantment” is patented and that it may not be 
propagated commercially without special license. 
The well-known British garden expert, writing 
under the pseudonym “Lothian”, kindly gave us a 
number of candid reports on varieties he had tested 
in his own Scottish garden. His reports and descrip- 
tions are quoted verbatim under each variety. 
Mid-Century Hybrids — Outward Facing 
Six 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 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 greenhouse 
of the commercial grower or amateur, as well as 
in the garden where it can be planted in the fore- 
ground 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 nurs- 
ery 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 
pedicles, the buds open over a period of several days. 
each, $0.45 
“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 
Page 40 
green, glossy foliage. A sensational novelty of great 
merit. each, $0.60 
Lothian writes: “A most striking Lily and is, I think 
the finest yellow in cultivation. It is a strikingly 
beautiful thing with large, outward-facing flowers 
of brilliant golden yellow which the spots on the 
broad petals seem to accentuate. Flowered on the 
26th of June, height 25 inches. The flowers lasted 
long in pristine beauty. The stem carried 11 flowers, 
all nicely spaced and proportioned. The dark brown 
stems enliven the pretty, glossy, olive-green foliage.” 
“Parade”—A rich yellow-orange colored lily. Down 
the center of each petal there is a stripe of bur- 
nished gold. Heavily spotted with minute black 
or maroon dots. The flowers which stand out hori- 
zontally have very wide petals and make a glorious 
