Signup to receive email updates




or follow our RSS feed

follow our RSS feed

Blog Banner

Rhonda Ferree's ILRiverHort

Rhonda Ferree's Horticulture Blog
JP CDL 3-27-10 Easter Lily Source University of California Extension

Friday, March 20, 2015

Easter Lilies Signal Spring

Posted by Rhonda J. Ferree - Holiday and Seasonal Topics Indoor Plants (Houseplants & more) Landscapes (Trees, Shrubs, and Flowers)

Easter is just around the corner. Have you purchased you Easter lily yet? If not, be sure to choose an Easter lily with lots of unopened buds for longer bloom enjoyment.

The popular Easter lily is the Christian symbol of purity, innocence, and chastity. But this particular lily has been popular for eons. In the Semitic world, it is the symbol of motherhood. It was the flower of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, and was later the flower of Roman Goddess's Diana and Venus.

To keep the plant looking its best longer, keep the plants out of direct sunlight or warm drafts. Remove the lily flowers as soon as they wither and clip any leaf ends that may brown.

It is somewhat sad to see it used only as a potted plant because it also makes a gorgeous garden plant. Do not throw out your Easter lily when it is done blooming. Instead, after your lily finishes flowering, keep it watered until the leaves turn yellow. Then, about Memorial Day you can plant your lily bulb outdoors and watch it bloom again later this summer.

Today, the lily sold as the Easter lily is most likely the Lilium candidum, known by the common name of Madonna lily. The Madonna Lily bulb should be planted close to the surface of the soil, which is different from most other lilies. This year it should send up a new shoot later this summer and bloom before frost. One of my college friends planted their Easter lilies outside their church and they were in full bloom during their late summer wedding.

The bulb should overwinter here and bloom in July in subsequent years. In the garden, the flowering stem carries as many as 15 or more pure white fragrant flowers 5 inches in diameter, reaching a height of 48 inches or more.

There are many other types of true lilies available for the garden ranging in colors of white, orange, scarlet, rose, pink, or yellow. True lilies are different from day lilies in leaf and flower arrangement. True lilies have leaves going up a single stem with flowers at the top, whereas day lilies have long leaves and flower stalks coming from large clumps. Because of their singular and striking habit, true lilies are excellent as single specimens or in solid masses.

Lilies do well in full sun or partial shade. Provide fertile soil and mulch to keep the root zone cool. Drainage is very important for this species. Typically the bulbs are planted in the fall. Most lily bulbs are planted with 4 to 6 inches of soil above the top of the bulb.

Finally, should you remove the flower's yellow stamens or not? Removing the yellow stamens inside the bloom is simply a matter of choice and aesthetics. Removal does not make the flower last longer. The only reason to remove it is for looks since as the pollen falls from the stamen it can stain the flower.



Please share this article with your friends!
Share on Facebook Tweet on Twitter Pin on Pinterest