It was about eight o’clock in the evening of a broiling hot day in the beginning of July. We opened the gate, approached the house, and knocked at the door. But the house was apparently empty, for our knock was unheeded and there was no sign nor sound of any person in the house. We knocked again, but this summons also being futile, we walked round the house and entered the back garden. It was a beautiful garden, one of those old gardens in which flowers have been cultivated for centuries, and in which the most beautiful of garden-plants seem as much at home as do the weeds in our country lanes.
But it was not the flowers, nor the well-kept lawn, which arrested our attention. On turning round the house we had become aware of an intense fragrance not unlike that of the lily of the valley, but many times more powerful. We glanced around to discover what plant it was which exhaled this perfume, and for a few minutes we were unable to discover it. But on turning our gaze towards the opposite corner of the garden, we saw a magnificent clump of the giant lily under the shade of three tall lime-trees. There were five spikes, the shortest of which was over five feet high, each surmounted with from ten to twelve blossoms like bells of shining wax.
We approached the spot and stood admiring this glorious plant for many minutes. But the remembrance that we had lost our way was gradually forced upon us, and we left the lilies, filled with an admiration for them which will never tarnish. We found no one in the garden, but eventually we discovered the right way home.
The next year we tried to find this cottage and revisit the lilies, but we have never to this day been able to find it.
We did not again behold this wonderful lily till July, 1898, when we flowered a single one in our own garden. This specimen did not exceed four feet in height, but it matured nine perfect blossoms.
The Lilium Giganteum, the giant lily of the Himalayas may well stand at the head of the genus. Its blossoms are perhaps not so fine as those of some other species, but in foliage, in growth and in fragrance it is second to none.
The bulb of this species is about the size of a very large cocoa-nut, but varies considerably in size according to whether it is going to flower the next season or not. The bulb consists of few scales, which are large, fibrous, and of a dark russet hue. The tops of the scales have a rotten-looking appearance. The bulb is very compact, hard and heavy.
About the middle of March the plant begins to show above ground. Its appearance after this varies considerably. If it is not going to flower it puts up a large mass of fine, deep, glossy green leaves, which somewhat resemble those of the White Arum. These leaves are heart-shaped, very glossy, many-nerved and distinctly stalked. The lily will probably repeat this process next year, and perhaps the next too; but if it has been well attended to, in the third or fourth year it will put up a flower-spike. When the stem first shows it has an appearance very similar to a small lettuce. It grows very rapidly and attains its full height about the beginning of July.
When full grown this lily has a very noble appearance. Its stem is from four to fourteen feet high, perfectly straight and gradually tapering from its base, where it is one to three inches in diameter, to its top, which narrows almost to a point.
Three distinct forms of leaves are borne on this stem. The lower ones resemble the leaves sent up in the non-flowering years. The upper leaves are smaller, less heart-shaped and with stalks. The third set of leaves, the bracts, enclose the flower buds. These are simple sessile leaves which fall off when the flowers open.