Easter lilies may look delicate, but their story stretches from misty Pacific islands to candlelit Easter vigils and sunny backyard gardens.

FROM ISLAND CLIFFS TO GRAND CATHEDRALS

The true Easter lily is Lilium longiflorum, a trumpet lily native to the Ryukyu Islands and other southern islands of Japan and Taiwan. Sailors and plant collectors carried its bulbs to Europe in the 1700s, where it quickly became a prized ornamental. By the early 1800s, commercial bulb production had started in Bermuda, followed by large-scale growing in Japan and the southern United States. When World War II cut off Japanese bulb supplies, this increased the bulb’s value, and American growers on the West Coast rapidly built an industry stretching from Vancouver, B.C. to Long Beach, CA with 1,200 growers by 1945. Today, there are about 10 major growers located in a small region of the California-Oregon border known as the Easter Lily capital of the world where 95 percent of the world’s supply is grown.    

SYMBOLS OF PURITY, REBIRTH AND MYSTERY

Across cultures, white lilies have long symbolized purity, abundance and fertility, appearing in ancient myths from Crete, Greece and Rome. Venus, the Roman goddess of love, was said to have been so jealous of the lily’s beauty, she caused the giant piston to sprout at its centre. In Christianity, the snowy petals of the Easter lily came to represent the purity and innocence of Christ, while the trumpet-shaped bloom evokes the herald’s trumpet announcing the resurrection. Many churches fill their sanctuaries with these flowers after the austerity of Lent, turning bare altars into fragrant displays of resurrected life. In some pagan and folk traditions, white lilies are also linked with motherhood and are gifted as a sign of gratitude and gentle strength.

A BOTANICAL TRUMPET OF SPRING

Botanically, Lilium longiflorum is a bulb-forming perennial with tall, upright stems and large, flaring white trumpets that carry a light, sweet fragrance. The “miracle” of the lily’s growth – an apparently lifeless bulb resting in cold soil, then suddenly sending up a vigorous green stem and luminous bloom – has made it a natural metaphor for hope and new beginnings. Growers carefully manipulate light and temperature so greenhouse lilies burst into flower right around Easter, which is challenging as it falls on a different date every year. In the garden they usually bloom later in spring or early summer.

HOW TO ENJOY EASTER LILIES AT HOME

For a potted Easter lily, choose a plant with firm green leaves and several unopened buds so you can enjoy a longer show. At home, place it in bright, indirect light, keep it away from drafts, and water when the top inch of soil feels dry – never let it sit in soggy foil or a water-filled saucer. After flowering, you can plant the bulb out in the garden at the same depth, where it may settle into a more natural late-spring bloom cycle; deadhead spent flowers, feed with a potassium-rich fertilizer in season, and protect containers in very cold winters. When you bring an Easter lily home or plant one in your garden, you are participating in a living tradition that spans centuries, continents and cultures.