Lilium Elegans

Lilium Elegans - One of the best and most generally known of the early Lilies. It is commonly known by the name of Thunbergianum. It is very variable, and there are about a dozen named varieties. The type grows about 1 foot high, and has stout erect stems, which bear numerous narrow leaves, and are terminated by a bright orange-red flower, 5 or 6 inches across. A native of Japan, flowering with us about the beginning of July. Most of the varieties are so distinct as to merit a slight description. They are—marmoratum and marmoratum aureum, two of the earliest forms; alutaceum, not more than 9 inches high, with a large, pale apricot-colored flower, copiously spotted; armenaicum (venustum), about 1 1/2 feet high, with several moderate-sized flowers (in autumn) of a rich glowing orange-red; atrosanguineum, about 1 1/2 feet high, with large flowers of rich deep crimson; Batemanniae, about 4 feet high, with several moderatesized flowers, in late summer, of a rich unspotted apricot tint (L. Batemanniae and L. Wallacei are put by Mr Baker as allied to L. Leichtlini and the Tiger group. Also See: Flowers

I do not consider the above two species to be Thunbergianum): bicolor, about 1 foot high, with large flowers orange-red, flamed with a deeper hue; brevifolium, 1 1/2 feet high, with flowers pale red and slightly spotted; citrinum, like armenaicum, but taller; fulgens, 1 to 1 1/2 feet high, with four to six large flowers of a deep red; sanguineum, 1 to 1 1/2 feet high, with one or two large blood-red flowers; L. Horsmanni, a dwarf form with richly-colored flowers of a blood-red mahogany tint, and Splendens, the early form of L. Wilsoni; Alice Wilson, the beautiful, scarce, lemon-yellow, dwarf form; Van Houttei, 1 1/2 feet high, with very deep crimson-red flowers, spotted with black; Wallacei, 2 1/2 feet high, with rich orange-red flowers, spotted with black; Wilsoni, 2 feet high, with large apricot-tinted, yellow-striped flowers—one of the latest to bloom. All the L. elegans group are perfectly hardy; they grow vigorously in almost any soil, but prefer a deep loamy one with an admixture of peat. They like an open position, and are suitable for planting around the margins of shrubberies. Small groups are beautiful in the open spaces that should exist in every shrubbery or Rhododendron bed. They are all excellent border plants, and the dwarf kinds may be introduced into the rock garden. In all cases they must be placed in sunny situations.