Easter Lillies

Easter is a time which draws together so much of wonderful tradition- chocolate bunnies, decorating eggs, church services, Easter plays and gift baskets. It is of course difficult to forget the tradition of Easter lillies. These beautiful flowers with their distinctly shaped petals signify hope, grace, purity and life.

Lillies are cherished for their lovely color, form and fragrance and whether you intend to keep them for your own enjoyment or are looking to gift it to someone, there are ways to care for your Easter lillies to make sure they look their best for as long as possible.

When keeping Easter lillies inside the home, make sure they are in a moderately cool environment, possibly around 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit, with slightly lower temperatures at night. It is an absolute necessity to avoid the Easter lillies being exposed to high temperatures or hot air. Easter lillies will flourish by the window with indirect light, but will be ruined by direct sunlight. When watering Easter lillies, as with all plants, make sure not to overwater them, but keep the soil moist, with good draining.

Easter lillies also have a lot of significance in history. Lillies are often called the ‘white robed apostle of hope’ and it is believed that there grew in the Garden of Gethsemane after the events involving Jesus Christ. According to tradition it is thought that lillies started growing from places where Christ’s sweat fell on the ground.

Lillies are native to some islands of Japan and the production of Easter lillies in America is believed to have started when a WW1 soldier from Oregon by the name of Louis Houghton brought home a suitcase of lily bulbs in 1919. The lillies were planted by friends and family amongst whom it was distributed, but when the supply was subsequently cut off from Japan, they came into demand and were then nicknamed ‘White Gold’.

According to the 2008 Annual report by the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, there have been efforts to genetically engineer Easter lillies to make them virus resistant and in turn improve the profits and reduce loss in the industry.

Although Easter lillies are only sold for around two weeks every year, they rank fourth in the list of America’s potted plant crops headed only by poinsettias, mums and azaleas with California and Michigan being the major producers of Easter lillies.