One of the reasons I love holidays is because they're an excuse to buy holiday flowers.  With Easter just around the corner, it's time to think about plants associated with Easter.  According to several floral websites, the top flowers gifted at Easter include white roses (Rosa), tulips (Tulipa L.), daffodils (Narcissus spp.), hyacinth (Hyacinthinus spp.), azalea (Rhododendron L.) and of course the Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum Thunb.).

Have you ever wondered why these flowers are often gifted at Easter?  An obvious reason is many of the flowers from bulb are forced to bloom during Easter time, but in some cases, the flowers have symbolism related to Easter.  For example, in the case of white roses, the roses' five petals are said to symbolize the holy five wounds Jesus received before and during his crucifixion.  And the white color represents his purity and innocence.

In terms of tulips, they're symbolic of spring.  Different color tulips represent different things.  For example, red tulips represent love, and white tulips represent forgiveness.

The top flower associated with Easter, the Easter Lily, has a lot religious symbolism behind it plus and interesting history.  The Easter Lily is referred to as ‘the white-robed apostles of hope.'  Its white color is said to represent Christ's purity.  The lily's shape is said to represent a trumpet announcing the rebirth of Christ.  Some believe the Easter Lily grew from where Christ's blood dropped onto the ground.

The lily bulbs in the ground are supposedly symbolic of Jesus' tomb, the flower symbolizing his life after death, with its white color symbolizing rebirth and new life.  The lily's growth process is also symbolic of Christ's resurrection, with the bulbs under the ground representing his brutal death, and the blooming of the lilies being his resurrection.

The lily has an interesting history.  Easter lilies are native to a few Southern islands in Japan, like the Ryukyu Islands.  They were discovered by Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg in 1777, then were introduced into England in 1919, then into Bermuda in the mid-1800's where the lily came to be known as the Bermuda Lily, due to the country's large production of the lily.  But a virus later wiped out their production in Bermuda.

The lily was introduced into the United States in 1919 by a soldier named Louis Houghton, who enamored by the flower, brought a suitcase of bulbs back with him from Japan to his home in Oregon.  He gave bulbs to his friends, who happened to be horticultural experts.  Subsequently, Easter lilies were soon growing along the California-Oregon border which bears prime growing conditions for the flower.  With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the import of Easter Lilies ceased and Oregon and California became the major producers of Easter Lilies in the United States.  By the way, the “Bermuda Lily” became known as the “Easter Lily” when it made its way to Philadelphia and was promoted there for its Easter bloom.

What I found interesting was the involved process in bringing Easter Lily bulbs to market.  The bulbs need to be cultivated in fields for at least three years.  During that time the bulbs need to be tended to and moved as they grow through their various stages.  And when they are finally at the stage where they can be shipped, they need to be kept under strict temperature restrictions to ensure the bloom in time for Easter.  It makes me truly appreciate Easter Lilies more!