With care and luck, some Easter plants can endure for years

Easter Sunday is April 1 this year and I hope you either give or receive a beautiful plant for this spring Holiday. Some Easter plants may also become part of your outdoor landscape for years to come. Others are meant to be enjoyed for as long as they look good and then discarded. Here are some tips for getting the most out of these beautiful flowers.

First and probably the most popular are Easter Lilies. The snow white flowers have long been used a sign of purity and are often featured on the altars of many churches. If you look carefully at the plants in a church, you may notice that they are missing their stamens. Stamens are the male flowers in the blossom and they have bright yellow sacks on their tips. The yellow pollen that they produce leaves a yellow stain on the white vestment that priests wear. Consequently, some churches order the flowers “emasculated” from the florist shop to avoid staining the white clothing. Many plants in the lily family produce colorful pollen and you might even eat some of this as “saffron” which colors food a bright yellow color, similar to turmeric.

Lily flowers will last longest if the plant gets direct sunlight and adequate moisture. As soon as the flowers fade indoors, remove them and keep the plant in a sunny window. It will require much less water after it stops blooming. Allow it to gradually dry out and eventually the leaves will turn brown. In mid-May the leaves may be cut off at soil level and the bulb can be transplanted into your outdoor perennial garden. Plant the bulb 6 inches deep in welldrained soil in a sunny location. With a little luck, it will re-bloom this fall and perhaps for the next few years in early summer. Some

Easter lilies become perennials in backyard gardens.

Spring flowering bulbs are trying to pop up on their own outdoors right now under the snow blanket that still covers much of the mountain, but spring flowering bulbs such as tulips, narcissus and hyacinths are also forced to bloom in greenhouses, as they also make great gifts. To me, no flowers are quite as pleasantly fragrant as hyacinths! They are perhaps my favorite spring flowering bulb! All these plants like bright sunlight but cool temperatures while in their pots. When the flowers fade, keep the plants in full sun and watered until the foliage turns yellow and then brown. Fertilize them with a houseplant liquid fertilizer every two weeks or so while the leaves are green. Gradu-

ally reduce watering, and, when the leaves turn completely brown, allow the soil to dry out. Store the dry bulbs in a shed or basement and plant them outdoors this fall.

Forced hydrangeas produce large, dense, clusters of pink, blue or white flowers. These varieties are called “greenhouse” hydrangeas because they are not hardy enough to survive our winter weather. Even indoors, they require cool night temperatures and frequent watering, but should be protected from direct sunlight as soon as the flowers show color. After the flowers fade,

they can get full indoor sunlight from a bright window until mid-May. Transplant them while still in the pot to an outdoor location that gets afternoon shade.

Sink the pot in the ground to just below its rim and cut back each stem to about 2 inches long to induce new growth. Keep the soil moist and apply liquid fertilizer every two weeks during the summer. In late September or early October, after the first light frost, bring the potted plant back indoors and store in the dark at a temperature of about 40 degrees for six to eight weeks, perhaps in an unheated basement. The leaves will soon drop off but continue to water the plants while in storage. After six to eight weeks of cold storage,

bring them into a warmer environment and when the leaves re-sprout, place them in a sunny window.

Three other flowering plants you may see in local greenhouses are calceolaria, cineraria and primroses. They feature lots of really colorful blossoms. All prefer full sun, cool evening temperature (50 degrees is ideal) and plenty of water. Pick off the flowers as they fade and transplant to a shady spot outdoors. With a lot of luck, they may bloom again this fall. Primroses may also become perennials in your garden if planted in a partly shady location.

Bob Beyfuss lives and gardens in Schoharie County. Send him an e-mail to rlb14@cornell.edu.