By Brian Minter
Easter celebrations are very much connected to the colour and fragrance of many plants and flowers.
This is the only time of year to enjoy the unique fragrance of the traditional Easter lily, lilium longiflorum. If you choose plants with either one open bloom, or at least one bloom puffy and white, you’ll be able to enjoy that amazing perfume very quickly.
To have your lily blooms last longer, at this time of year they can go outside in a porch pot container garden, so even the tightest buds will bloom, giving you colour and fragrance over the next week or two. If you have a garden bed, once the blooms are spent, cut them off, and transplant the lily directly into the soil. Let the leaves die back naturally, and often, in the summer, they will re-bloom. Although not hardy like the Asiatic or Oriental lilies, in the right protected location, they can often survive and flower each year.
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The beautiful hydrangeas we see in bloom right now are hardy enough to be reliable flowering shrubs for years to come, but you can enjoy the potted plants indoors right now, or on the porch. Cut the blooms off when they are finished and plant these macrophylla varieties in a morning-sun/afternoon-shade location where they will grow, set bud in August, and bloom beautifully for you next year.
The whites will remain white, but the pinks need a little application of lime to keep them pink. The blues should remain blue but if you wish to enjoy a darker blue or even deep purple flower head, add some aluminum sulphate to your soil a couple of times over the growing season to encourage a more intense blue color.
Many of the new varieties of indoor mums are pretty spectacular, and even though they are not the hardy garden mums, they too can be planted out in the garden. After they have finished flowering, cut them back to three to four inches, and allow them to grow.
In late summer they will flower again just like their hardier counterparts, but they will likely not make it outside over the winter.
Asiatic lilies, in vibrant yellows and oranges, are available this time of year and can now be planted out in the garden. Miniature roses can also be set out in containers to enjoy on the deck, but late April or May would be the time to plant them in the ground.
Some growers force astilbe into bloom for Easter. A colourful and long-lasting perennial, astilbe can be enjoyed in containers on the patio or deck now, and then once they have finished flowering, can be planted in the garden for years of enjoyment.
It’s nice to add so many beautiful flowers in and around our homes for the Easter season, and with a little plant wisdom, we can enjoy them far longer in our gardens.
Brian Minter is an award-winning horticulturist, author and syndicated columnist from Chilliwack, B.C. He and his wife, Faye, founded Minter Gardens, a 32-acre mixed-style show garden.
Featured images via Brian Minter
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