Lily Facts
For those who have never grown a lily, facts that may surprise them are how easy it is to do so and how much enjoyment they will receive from the sight of their first blossoms.
Many flowers may have the name “lily” that are not true lilies. Day lilies and water lilies, for example are actually not members of the Liliales family at all. True lilies will have grown from a bulb or corm, and never go dormant in off bloom seasons.
The lily, facts show, is one of the oldest ornamental flowers in existence today. Over 3,000 years ago, the lily was the holy flower of the Assyrians, and bore the name “Madonna Lily”. As the name indicates, the flower was a sign of purity and associated with virgins. More historical lily facts point to the flower’s presence in Greek mythology; believed to have born from the milk of Hera, the Greek goddess of love and marriage.
The most popular varieties of the lily are the Asiatic and Oriental varieties, making them the most extensively grown lily. The Oriental varieties are strongly perfumed but have fewer color variations, whereas the Asiatics have a wide range of colors but possess faint to no fragrance. Mixing the two varieties in a flowering bed brings the advantages of each to play in one arena.
When planted in garden areas, there are lily facts proving the flower’s great adaptability. Excellent in flower beds and borders, they are also great to use as a shrub border or in water feature plantings. Rock gardens are enhanced by the lovely blooms of smaller varieties tucked within rocky crevices.
If you are looking for another excellent way to enjoy the beautiful and elegant lily, facts show that it also performs very well in containers. Container planting of lilies enables it to be displayed within the home for longer periods of time than cut lilies. The Calla lily in particular provides a showy exhibit inside the home in the early spring, and then are able to be transferred outdoors still in their pot to enjoy warm sunny summer weather.
The lily is another plant that does double duty as not only a lovely ornamental blossom but also has value in the medicinal sense. Possessing healing and soothing properties through oil that is extracted from the lily, the plant provides a wonderful means for massage, bathing, body moisturizer and more.
For any beginning gardener who is planning to include the lily, facts of its easy propagation, adaptability in either containers or outside gardens and its medicinal properties should confirm that the lily is truly a wonderful addition. Once those first delicately beautiful blooms appear, they will be fans of the lily for life.