Easter lily, Lilium longiflorum
Easter lily, Lilium longiflorum
Monthly Theme: Embrace the traditional Easter lily!
With springtime comes Easter and with Easter comes the traditional Easter lily, Lilium longiflorum. During the holiday season, you will see every grocery store, box store, garden center, and even the local gas station selling Easter lilies. They produce a beautiful and fragrant flower, but they have gotten a bad rap over the years because often people associate them with death since they are commonly found at funeral parlors or wakes. Don’t let fear or superstitions hold you back – embrace the Easter lily! Bring one into your home to decorate for spring and later plant the bulb in the yard to enjoy for years to come. Select a plant with thick foliage and unopened buds. Always check store-bought plants for any pests, mite webbing, insect eggs or holes in the leaves. You don’t want to introduce new bugs into your home or garden.
The Easter lily is native to the Ryukyu Islands in southern Japan. They are also called a Trumpet lily or Bermuda lily. They produce beautiful, large 3-7” trumpet-like white flowers, which deliver a classic floral scent. Other cultivars come in shades of pink, yellow or cream.
Due to World War II, Japanese sources were cut off so the US started cultivating the bulbs in California and Oregon. Ninety-five percent of all the Easter lilies sold here are grown in the US. The plant species we find in most stores are the cultivar ‘Nellie White.’ Some other varieties include ‘Trimphator’ with white flowers and pink centers, ‘Elegant Lady’ with blush-pink flowers, ‘Deliana’ with yellow flowers, and ‘White Elegance’ with smaller, but more flowers than ‘Nellie White’.
For marketing purposes, growers force the plants to flower in time for Easter. However, when planted outdoors, the Easter lily blooms in the July. In cooler clinics, the plant produces more leaves and doesn’t grow quite as tall.
You can plant them in clusters to create a lovely border or just plant among other perennials. They make excellent cut flowers. Lovingly, plant the bulbs 12-18” apart and 3” deep in the fall before the first frost arrives. Don’t forget to mulch around the plants and deadhead them after the blooms die. In the fall, cut the stem back to ground level. To encourage proper growth next spring, add some blood meal or bulb fertilizer to the soil. Bear in mind, they may not bloom until their second year. After 2-3 growing years, you can dig up and divide the bulbs in late summer or fall after blooming.
Smarty Plants Fun Facts
Easter Lily, Lilium longiflorum is in the family Liliaceae
Loamy, well-drained soil
pH Acidic, neutral
Full to partial sunlight
Watch for aphids and thrips
Don’t overwater bulbs to avoid fungal diseases or rot
Can grow 3’ tall
“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.” Luke 12:27“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.” Luke 12:27
The More You Grow
In Christianity, the pure white Easter lily symbolizes Jesus’ purity and resurrection. The trumpet shape symbolizes the message that Jesus has risen on Easter Sunday. The horn being blown would announce Jesus’ resurrection. Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown, in ancient Hebrew means “flower.” White lilies are said to have sprouted on the ground where Jesus cried in the Garden of Gethsemane, before his arrest and crucifixion.
In pagan circles the Easter lily is connected with motherhood and is often given as a gift to new mothers.
In mythology, the Easter lily is commonly associated with the story of Zeus and Hera. The story goes that Zeus wanted baby Hercules to drink Hera's breast milk to encourage fertility.
In Japan, the Easter lily represents the fleeting nature of life. Elsewhere, they symbolize death or the moment when the soul leaves the body and the white color represents sympathy, which is why they are often seen at funerals. Besides funerals, the Easter lily is used for baptisms and weddings.
In general, the flowers are known as a symbol of spring. The trumpet seems to announce the arrival of spring, new beginnings, hope, and rebirth of all the dormant plants.
WARNING: The Easter Lily, and many lilies, are poisonous to cats.
In conclusion, let’s treat ourselves to an Easter lily this year and allow its beauty to welcome in another gardening season. Happy springtime and Easter to all of my readers!