L. Takesima is a late flowering Longiflorum. It can readily be distinguished from the other varieties by the purple tint of its stem and flower buds. It is very free-flowering; one of our spikes contained six blossoms, all of which were matured.
Of all the varieties of Longiflorum none other is to be compared with that known as “Wilsoni” or “Eximium.” This is a perfectly lovely plant. As we are writing there is a specimen of this lily on the table before us. It is in a pot and is the result of a single bulb. There are eight blossoms, not one of which is aught but perfect. The blossoms are very long and possess the scent of lilac.
Among the other varieties of L. Longiflorum which we have grown there is one which, as far as we are aware, is unnamed. We bought ten bulbs of “Lilium Longiflorum, New Variety,” at an auction for half-a-crown. Most of the bulbs produced fair but ordinary results; but one which was grown in a pot was quite different from any variety that we know. This bulb sent up two spikes, each bearing two blossoms, but unfortunately one spike was spoilt by green fly. The other matured its two flowers. They were very long, almost as long as those of L. Philippinense, that is, about nine inches long. They were pure white at their open end, but greenish towards their attachment. The petals were much longer than the sepals, but not so strongly curved. Whether this is the “new variety,” or is a bulb of L. Formosanum or Philippinense out of place, we cannot tell.
One of the finest plants for the table that we know, both when in flower and previously, is the variety of L. Longiflorum with white-margined leaves. In this plant the centres of the leaves are an opaque pale green, and the margins are pure white. The buds show a similar colouration. Unlike most plants with variegated foliage, this lily has very fine blossoms of a dead white colour, but with curious transparent edges. Each bulb usually produces two flowers.
We cannot too strongly emphasise the extreme beauty of this species. Whether as cut flowers, in pots or in the garden, it is one of the loveliest of natural objects.
All lilies make good cut flowers and last well in water, but the L. Longiflorum is par excellence the lily for cutting. For all forms of floral decoration it is unrivalled, and of all flowers it is most suitable for church decoration.
During last July, on the occasion of an organ recital at our village church, we gathered a bunch of our lilies for decoration. There were about thirty flowers in all, chiefly L. Longiflorum and L. Brownii. The effect of them was exceedingly pure and beautiful, and many persons, both cottagers and those possessing gardens far larger than our own, remarked upon the grace and elegance of the lilies. Yet every person in that church could have grown those lilies, and for a few shillings’ outlay the church could be decorated with lilies throughout the summer.
London florists have a pernicious habit of removing the anthers from their lilies, because they say that the pollen gets rubbed off and dirties the petals. It is a great mistake to disfigure a lily in this way. It utterly ruins the appearance of white lilies, for it robs them of the one particle of colour which is so much needed to set off the white of their perianth. If you are afraid of the pollen injuring the appearance of the lily, you can wrap the floral organs in tissue paper when the plants are being moved from one place to another. But do not spoil the flower. Anybody with the smallest appreciation for this plant would far rather see the white leaves covered with yellow dust than the lily mutilated by having its centre removed.
The cultivation of L. Longiflorum presents but few difficulties. In the ground it needs a well-drained spot, but is not particular as to soil. A fairly rich soil is really the best for this lily, for in such soil it does not dwindle so much as it does in a light soil.
In some places where it is otherwise impossible to flower this plant, success may be obtained by growing it in a mixture of sand, peat, and leaf-mould, so light that the hand can easily be forced below the bulbs.