TIGER LILY.

Waipawa Mail, Volume LXVII, Issue 68, 22 February 1939, Page 4

TIGER LILY.

Restrict a gardener to 12 kinds of lilies and surely one of them would be the tiger lily. Introduced from China more than 100 years ago, it soon found its way into general cultivation, and to-day it is probably the most popular lily in our gardens. The reason of its popularity is not far to seek, for not only is it a beautiful lily when in flower, but even if indifferently grown it produces a crop of tiny bulbils in the axils of the leaves and when these fall, or are removed and grown in beds they will form flowering bulbs in two or three years. In many gardens, especially those in which there is much lime in the soil, L. tigrinum gradually dwindles away after it has reached maturity. Its natural method of propagation, however, is such that a continuous supply of flowering bulbs is kept in spite of these losses. Of late years the variety has been replaced to large extent by the two varieties, L.t. fortunei, and L.t. splendens, each finer in every way than the original older plant and . easily recognised—splendens by its dark, almost black, smooth stems, and fortunei by the hairiness of the stout, upstanding stems and also by a much larger head of flowers. The double form is L.t. flore plena, and for those who appreciate double flowers it is the best; in fact, the only double-flowered lily in general cultivation. This lily does not generally seed in this country, although this is quite unnecessary for propagation purposes, but if seed is required it can be induced to set if the small bulbils in the axils of the leaves are •emoved as soon as they appear. The bulbs should be planted nine to 42 inches deep, in a lime-free soil and given a position in full sun. Incidentally, bulbs of this lily are cultivated by the thousand in Japan, where it is used as a vegetable.