L. monadelphum. Yellow tubular-shaped flowers in clusters of 6 to a dozen or more; stems 2-1/2 feet tall.
L. elegans (L. Thunbergianum), var. Alice Wilson. Lemon-yellow; stems 2 feet high, bearing 2 to 8 flowers.
L. elegans, var. fulgens atrosanguineum. Dark crimson; height, 1 foot.
Lily-of-the-valley.—A perfectly hardy little perennial, bearing racemes of small, white, bell-shaped flowers in early spring; and also much forced by florists.
For ordinary cultivation, sods or mats of roots may be dug from any place in which the plant is colonized. Usually it thrives best in partial shade; and the leaves make an attractive mat on the north side of a building, or other shady place, in which grass will not grow. The plants will take care of themselves year after year. Better results may be expected from good commercial roots. The “pips” may be planted any time from November on, from 3 to 6 inches apart.
For forcing indoors, imported roots or “pips” are used, as the plants are grown for this particular purpose in parts of Europe. These roots may be planted in pots, and treated as recommended for winter-flowering bulbs. Florists force them in greater heat, however, often giving them a bottom heat of 80° or 90°; but skill and experience are required in order to attain uniformly good results in this case.
Mignonette.—Probably no flower is more generally grown for its fragrance than the mignonette. It is a half-hardy annual, thriving either in the open or under glass.
The mignonette needs a cool soil, only moderately rich, shade part of the day, and careful attention to cutting the flower-stalks before the seeds are ripe. If a sowing be made in late April, followed by a second sowing in early July, the season may be extended until severe frosts. There are few flowers that will prove as disappointing if the simple treatment it needs is omitted. Height, 1 to 2 feet.
It may be sown in pots late in summer and be had in the house in winter.
Moon-flowers are species of the morning-glory family that open their flowers at night. A well-grown plant trained over a porch trellis, or allowed to grow at random over a low tree or shrub, is a striking object when in full flower at dusk or through a moonlit evening. In the Southern states (where it is much grown) the moon-flower is a perennial, but even when well protected does not survive the winters in the North.