EREMURUS — |... 
‘4 
An Exotic Hardy Peteniial.. - 
thrill of having a traffic- 
stopper in your garden? 
Some well-established 
clumps of EREMURI, with 
flower stalks ranging from 
4 to 12 feet tall, topped by 
spire-like flower clusters con- 
taining hundreds of star- 
like, closely growing florets, 
can give you this pleasure. 
They will amaze your 
friends and introduce you 
to many people who stop 
to inguire about them. 
The flower clusters re- 
main in bloom for two or 
three weeks, undamaged by 
heat or rain. The stems are 
sturdy, so staking is un- 
necessary. They sway gen- 
tiv in the breeze but are 
seldom broken. If you plant 
both early and late varie- 
ties, these magnificent can- 
dles can provide spiky con- 
trast for your spring garden 
from the middle of May un- 
til after the Fourth of July. 
The spires grow very 
erect outdoors, but when 
cut and placed in containers 
they curve gracefully to 
form unusual arrangements 
and displays. 
This striking plant be- 
longs to the Asphodel Tribe 
of the Liliacee Family, 
and its more common names are Foxtail Lily, Desert Candle or Giant 
Asphodel. The botanical name, EREMURUS, is not as difficult to pro- 
nounce as it looks—just say air-a-mi-rus. It is derived from the Greek, 
meaning “lonely tail,’ probably because of the solitary spike. 
The EREMURUS came originally from the high plateaus of India, Persia 
and South Central Asia, where the soil is fertile, the moisture sufficient, the 
drainage nearly perfect and where the temperature varies from extreme 
heat in summer to extreme cold in winter. It was first introduced to Euro- 
pean horticulturists in 1800 and was brought to the United States about 1900. 
Have you ever known the 
