The Lily is the rival of the Rose, and by many is considered far superior. They certainly are far more easily cultivated. They are hardy, elegant, gorgeous sometimes, and sometimes of snowy purity. Many of them are of exquisite fragrance. There are early and late bloomers, and one can have these desirable flowers in succession for several months, by a right selection. The earliest bloomers are the Pomponiums, natives of Siberia, and are perfectly hardy. The Lancifolium or Speciosum is the autumn blooming Lily, native of Japan. Lancifolium Album, a fine sort, with pure white petals and a pea-green stripe, very fragrant. Lancifolium Rubrum, and Roseum, though catalogued separately, are the same with different shadings. Some purplish crimson, others a faint blush of rose. Some have a red stripe, others a dark dull green, but all are specially recommended. Lancifolium Punctatum verum is a late bloomer; color, clear white with soft rose spots and green stripes. Finest of the species, Lancifolium Praecox; flowers white with a purplish-blush at the tips. Lancifolium Monstrosum or Corymbiflorum rubrum, bears its crimson flowers in large clusters. Grows to a great size.
The Lancifolium Lilies are of special value for their hardiness and varied beauty, and their cheapness places them within general reach. They are classed under the head of Martagons, or Turks Cap.
Auratum Imperial is the Golden-banded-Lily of Japan which has become so extensively known and popular since its introduction from Japan by Mr. Gordon Dexter. It was first exhibited in July 1862, at the Massachusetts Horticultural Exhibition. It first bloomed in England same year. It was for sometime considered too tender for the Canadas and New England states, but it proved to be hardy. We have had ours twelve years, and give it only a slight protection. The petals of the Auratum are snowy white with a golden band running down the center of each, and freely spotted on the sides with deep carmine red. They are very fragrant. Being of somewhat slender growth, they need support. It does best in a warm sandy soil that has been well manured and dug deeply. It is easily propagated from the scales of the bulbs, each scale producing a small bulbet. They should be planted in a box about a foot deep, in good friable soil about three inches deep, and one inch apart. Sink the box in some out of the way place in the garden, and water frequently. In a short time small bulbs will be found forming on the base, which rapidly grow, and must be transplanted out the second year in the bed; the third or fourth year it will bloom. The little bulbets which form on the mother bulb blossom a year earlier. They should be renewed in the fall, after the foliage is dead. Plant in a bed about four inches deep, and let them remain undisturbed for two years; then they are large enough to bloom and should be transplanted into a permanent bed, if required.
LONGIFLORUM LILIES.
These trumpet-shaped Lilies are charming in appearance, quite hardy and fragrant. They bloom in July or August, and continue in beauty for a long time.
Longiflorum Japonicum blooms in July, and is a fine dwarf bedder; color pure white, with occasionally a greenish tinge outside. Increases rapidly. Eximium bears a longer flower, from six to nine inches in length, and is more open at the mouth than the common Longiflorum. Pure white and very fragrant. Brownii is a native of Japan, and is a grand Lily of rare beauty. It resembles Longiflorum in shape, but is larger and more expanding; color white inside, exterior brownish-purple; stamens rich chocolate, which forms a distinctive feature in this species. It has been frequently confounded with Japonicum, but the difference is very marked in the illustrations of the two, and are thus noted in Messrs. Hallock & Thorp's "Catalogue of Lilies."
"Japonicum (Odorum, Japonicum Colchesterii). One of the most beautiful and rarest Lilies in cultivation. It differs from Brownii and all the forms of Longiflorum in many respects. Note the following marked differences: Its broader, fewer and more spreading leaves, the shape of the entire flower and broader claw of its divisions, its shorter anthers with pollen tinged with red. The flower is solitary and large, interior pure white, exterior of a pinkish-brown color, tubular, bell-shaped, with spreading revolute tips; the bud shows a rich golden tint. Bulb white, or whitish-yellow, never red or brown, broad at the base, the scales which are somewhat narrow and acute at the tip, the outer ones terminate at about two-thirds of the height of the inner scales, whereas in Brownii the scales are broad, and all pass up, overlapping, and terminate together at the apex of the bulb, thus making the base much narrower than the apex."