This lily, although a native of the tropics, should prove hardy in our southern countries, but it would be unwise to trust this rare lily out-of-doors. It is usually grown in a greenhouse, in a light sandy soil.
Of its cultivation we know nothing, as we have never ourselves possessed the plant.
The next lily is one of the most magnificent of the whole genus. It was discovered in the Himalayas by Hamilton in 1802, and twenty years later it was named in honour of Mr. Wallich, a great authority on lilies.
Lilium Wallichianum is the finest of the long-flowered lilies. It grows to the height of four to six feet, with a brown glossy stem and numerous lanceolate leaves. It starts growing very late in the year, the shoots rarely appearing before July.
The flowers of this species are always solitary in the wild state; but in cultivation two blossoms are occasionally produced. The flowers are very large and long, the tubes slightly curved and the mouth widely dilated. Its colour is a rich cream, the interior of the tube being pale yellow. It is very fragrant.
This is one of the latest lilies to bloom, flowering usually towards the middle of October. It is hardy in our climate, but the flowers, owing to their lateness to open, are sometimes injured by early frosts. It forms a fine pot-plant and is an admirable occupant for the conservatory. But why do we so very rarely see this plant in the conservatory? Why cannot we have a change from the eternal L. Harrisii, the only lily people grow in their greenhouses? L. Wallichianum is an infinitely finer plant, but it is almost totally neglected.
There is a variety of L. Wallichianum in which the flowers are larger and of a pale primrose colour. It is known to gardeners by the name of L. Wallichianum superbum or sulphureum. As we write this, we have before us a plant which bears two buds, but we rarely see more than a single flower on each stem.
This plant should be grown like L. Longiflorum, but it likes a somewhat richer soil. It must be watered. In its native land it has hot rain all through its growing season. In our climate, a dry July or August, the two months in which the plant grows most rapidly, kills it, and this is the reason why this lily is so very seldom grown. Be this lily in the ground or in a pot, it must be thoroughly saturated every day from the time that it first shows its spike, till the buds change from green to white. When this latter change has occurred, a copious drenching with liquid manure is of great service.
The last of the long-flowered lilies is L. Neilgherrense from the Neilgherry hills. This plant resembles the last, but its flowers are longer and larger though not so fine in colour. This plant bears the longest flowers of any lily, extra fine examples being upwards of a foot long. This lily will not grow well out of doors and should be grown in a conservatory. It is a very difficult plant to manage. Amongst other things, it has a creeping stem, and if grown in a pot it often sends up a shoot which meanders about beneath the soil, and eventually visits the light through a drainage hole, totally exhausted by its subterranean peregrinations.
It is said that this lily should be grown in a black heavy loam and should be watered but sparingly; but we have not grown the plant ourselves, and so we cannot say if this treatment is likely to be successful.