Right now in the Greenhouse

The Scarborough Lily - Vallota
Flowering Right Now in the Greenhouse

This wonderful plant given me by a close colleague years ago produces lots of babies each year and rewards me late on in the greenhouse with these amazing flowers. It took me some years to get it to flower and I must confess the secret is a bit of neglect and some liquid feed in the early summer. It doesn't like very much water in winter and if too moist the leaves turn yellow, limp and a bit nasty.

When I first got it I scoured my books to find out about the Scarborough Lily and the best information was in an old gardening book of 1933 - The Wright Encyclopaedia of Gardening by Walter P. Wright, a wonderfully informative book with good practical tips and sketches. 

The cover - a coloured woodcut by Robert Gibbings

The rather grubby and tatty cover fell off long before I owned it and has been carefully slipped inside.  This is what I love about old books.  The best ones show how much they have been appreciated.