Every year as Easter rolls around, there are two things that I especially look forward to: Cadbury Cream Eggs and Easter lilies. There's not a lot that I can say about Cream Eggs other than they taste really good, so I'll just focus on Easter lilies here.
Easter lilies, white and trumpet shaped, aren't seen too often anymore. In fact, I'm only able to find them in Atlanta during this time of year. I suppose that they're a rather old-fashioned lily, one that has now been supplanted in popularity by the Oriental varieties that are so prevalent today. When I was trying to find interior photos which showed Easter lilies, I could only find images from the 1930s to the 1960s, a time when the Easter lily was popular in both its potted form as well as in cut stem arrangements.
By the way, if you're wondering why these lilies are a symbol of Easter, it's because they're a symbol of both resurrection and purity. And one more tidbit of info: Easter lilies are also called Bermuda lilies.
A vase of cut lilies in the New York apartment of designer James Pendleton.
A Pierre Brissaud illustration shows the drawing room of the Harrison Williams.
A potted Easter lily in the Rose Cumming designed home of Dr. and Mrs. Russell Cecil.
McMillen's old Houston showroom. An urn is a classic way in which to plant a lily.
Some rather tall Easter lilies flanking the fireplace in this McMillen designed drawing room.
The sunroom of Françoise and Oscar de la Renta. The mirrored urns holding the Easter lilies look very disco.
Photos #1 and #2 from House & Garden's Complete Guide to Interior Decoration
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Old-Fashioned Easter Lilies
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We usually have a couple of potted Easter lilies to commemorate Easter. They have a lovely fragrance and an added bonus. After the flowers fade you can plant them in the garden for reblooming next year. These along with hyacinths and daffodils will generally come up year after when transferred to the garden. So don't throw out those potted plants. Tulips on the other hand rarely perform as successfully for some reason.
ReplyDeleteI also love their fragrance. I did not realize that they can be replanted. Unfortunately, I don't have a garden in which to replant, but others probably do so this is nice to know.
DeleteLove white lilies even though I'm not keen on their pungent scent - much prefer freesias for scent. However ... I hate to say this but I will ... Cadbury's cream eggs are absolutely vile! Yukky inner core as far removed from cream as I can think of, with a sickly chocolate-coloured exterior. Give me a decent piece of real chocolate any day. A good thing we're all different!
ReplyDeleteMargaret P
Margaret, You're not alone. I think that a lot of people find cream eggs to be vile! :)
DeleteI have issues with Easter lilies - as I do with hyacinths, chrysanthemums and gladiolus...they all remind me of funerals. I love the scent, but that's the unfortunate meme that comes to mind. I think it they're used sparingly, they can be beautiful, but once there are so many that the scent becomes the focus, I can't deal.
ReplyDeleteI love the table in the McMillen photo.
I definitely associate gladiolus with funerals, and for that reason won't have them in my house. And yes, too many lilies and hyacinth can certainly be overwhelming!
DeleteCecil Beaton would always refer to Madonna Lilies~did he mean Easter Lilies by that term?
ReplyDeleteAs to associational prejudices against certain flowers, I remember being emphatically warned
off any sort of chrysanthemum by a stylish French woman who insisted that their only
function was to be laid at grave stones in cemeteries. David Hicks hated gladiolas and lupins and
marigolds, but for purely aesthetic reasons. The list goes on and on.
Toby, According to my Google search a few moments ago, a Madonna lily seems to be different from the Easter or Bermuda lily. The Easter lily's scientific name is lilium longiflorum, while the Madonna variety is lilium candidum. The Madonna lily appears to grow quite tall, something which makes me wonder if the lily depicted in the McMillen photo is actually a Madonna lily, not an Easter lily.
ReplyDeleteI adore the Easter Lily, however here in SCA, you can only find them at the flower mart during this time of year unless you really dig. Hmmm, wonder why? Their smell is divine + loved all your Lily information. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
ReplyDeleteI wonder why as well? Here in Atlanta, you can find them at local nurseries and grocery stores, but only around Easter.
DeleteWe love them too, I have a lovely specimen on our window sill in a old fashioned urn!
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter, Jennifer!
xoxo
I bet your plant looks lovely in that urn! Happy Easter!
DeleteEaster or not,the scent of lilies is usually part of the smells of home for me. In the night, if I'm awake, I love to sit, read, and be wreathed in the smell - and they are at their sweetest just before they die.
ReplyDeleteBlue, your home always smells so nice because of the often present vase of lilies. They do indeed smell sweetest just before they die.
DeleteBermuda Easter lillies are famous! They were Bermuda's main export for years!!! I grew up in Bermuda and am leaving for Bermuda this very morning.....
ReplyDeleteEach year Bermuda still sends lillies to Queen Elizabeth. Happy Easter! Liz Outerbridge Richardson
Hi Liz, I had no idea that Bermuda still sends lilies to Queen Elizabeth. What a wonderful tradition! Happy Easter and have a wonderful time in Bermuda!
DeleteI grew up in a small town surrounded by cornfields, and even though I learned early on not to say 'couch' or 'drapes' in polite company, I still have small-town tastes, and the kind of cheap candy you can pick up at any Piggly Wiggly would be one of them. Not, of course, that I don't like, say Godiva, but somehow, eating a hundred bucks worth of candy over the course of an hour while I'm reading blogs seems immoral, so, this time of year, Cadbury's it is. Cadbury's or Peeps, that is--although only the Peeps Classic colors, not those blue & purple mutants. Not all change is good.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm a fan of Bermuda lilies, too, and carnations & chrysanthemums & marigolds & petunias--or, at least, the kind of petunias you end up with after all the gussied-up showgirl hybrids have reverted to plain janes after a few Chicago winters. Basically, though, I can't think of a plain old no-account backyard flower I don't like: they are what they are. And that idea--that beauty can spring from the most ordinary places--makes me wonder whether those lilies in Mona Williams' all-white drawing room were there because they were already the fashionable flower, or whether it worked the other way around, and their leap from the backyard gardens to the world of fashion happened partly because of the fame of this room, its decorator and its beautiful owner--who own early years were spent among much more humble surroundings.
Simply Grand, That's an interesting thought about the Williams' rooms perhaps bringing Bermuda lilies into vogue. It certainly had to at least help the flower's popularity.
DeleteAnd by the way, regarding chocolate: my all-time favorite chocolates are Russell Stover. I've eaten all kinds of gourmet chocolates, and Russell Stover is still my favorite! Hershey too.