Ruth Nerhaugen
The Republican Eagle - 03/20/2008 The ground is still frozen and flakes of snow may flutter down, but there is one indisputable sign on this first day of spring 2008: Easter lilies are blooming.
Don’t thank Mother Nature.
Thank your local florists.
If not for them, lily bulbs would still be nestled deep in their pots waiting for warmer weather to begin sending their shoots upward toward the sunshine.
At Red Wing’s Hallstrom’s Florist, the process of getting the lilies to bloom in time for Easter began in December.
“We’re always working three to six months ahead on everything,” Dave Hallstrom said.
It was especially challenging this year because Easter falls so early. Hallstrom’s Florist began forcing the bulbs as soon as the Christmas poinsettias were gone.
Easter falls on a different day every year, between March 22 and April 25. It’s the first Sunday that follows the first full moon after the vernal or spring equinox.
Because there’s a narrow holiday sales window of about two weeks, Easter lilies must bloom exactly when they’re supposed to, with no margin for error.
For millions of people, Easter just wouldn’t look right without Lilium longiflorum. The traditional flower of Easter, the lily is symbolic of the resurrection of Christ.
For many, the trumpet-shaped white flowers also symbolize purity, virtue, innocence, hope and life. Lilies, sometimes called “white-robed apostles of hope,” are mentioned many times in the Bible.
The Hallstrom greenhouse gets its shipment of about 5,000 lily bulbs in the fall from Oregon, where the vast majority of U.S. lily bulbs originate. The bulbs are harvested there, packed and shipped to greenhouses.
We plant them in the fall,” Hallstrom said. “They root for a while.”
The florists then subject them to cold treatment — 1,000 hours of 40-degree temperatures. Hallstrom keeps them in their pots in a dark, cool pole shed.
The process of convincing the lilies to bloom begins by bringing them out where the temperature is 65 to 68 degrees so they will begin sprouting. In a cold winter, the cost of forcing or warming the bulbs climbs.
The process is more science than guesswork.
“You count the leaves that unfold — that’s how you time them,” Hallstrom said.
“You dissect the bulb in the fall,” he explained.
A bulb unfolds at a rate of 1 1/2 leaves per day.
“If it has 65 leaves, it takes 45 days to unfold those leaves,” he said. “There’s only about a week window. You want them fresh. We like to have one flower puffing about a week before Easter so it will be in bloom for Easter.”
They usually get 9 to 10 centimeter bulbs, which generally produce eight to nine flowers, he said. A 7 to 8 centimeter bulb will produce five to seven flowers.
Hallstrom’s sells the lilies at its greenhouse and downtown flower shop, but also to many area churches and to other retail florists in southern Minnesota.
In addition to the 5,000 lilies, Hallstrom’s will go through about 3,000 blooming plants such as cyclamen, mums, begonias and hydrangeas. Many churches are doing “spring gardens’’ instead of lilies-only displays for Easter.
“When they are done blooming,” Hallstrom said, “you can plant them out in the garden and they’ll come up next year.”
Of course, it’s important to wait until after the danger of frost has passed before planting. Today may be the first day of spring, but cold weather could continue until mid-May.
Not to worry. According to Hallstrom, “Your Easter lily should last for several weeks.”
