Flowers for Easter Renewal

"Easter spells out beauty,
 the rare beauty of new life."
S.D. Gordon


I write this in the middle of Holy Week, a week which begins on Palm Sunday and concludes 7 days later with Easter Sunday. In the Christian tradition, Easter represents the resurrection of Jesus, a day filled with hope, celebration, and renewal--how appropriate that this day is accompanied by the arrival of Spring.

 After all, Spring is THE season which represents dawn after darkness, sunshine after rain, life after death.  Spring and Easter are inextricably linked, both embodying resurrection of growth and being. 

Lily sprouts ready to go after a long winter in the ground.

 Even if you do not celebrate Easter as a religious holiday, there is an undeniable sense of wonderment and collective reverence for the day.  Yes, the world is coming alive again after a long and dark winter.  Just take a look at the secular images of Easter: fertile rabbits, baby chicks, eggs, and flowers, flowers, flowers. They are all related to life and rebirth.

 What flower reminds you of the hope and renewal of Easter?  

 A lot of responses here on the farm included the tulip, which comes as no surprise as this flower is firmly associated with Spring.  The other popular response was the hyacinth, another classic spring bloom, which comes in all the Easter colors.  Not only that, blue hyacinth is the flower of the Persian New Year, which also marks the first day of spring. 

 

Spring-hued blue and lavender hyacinth

However, the most favored response was the white lily.  White lilies are ubiquitous during Easter; in fact, the white lilum longiflorum is officially known as the "Easter Lily."  For centuries, this white lily has been used as the floral symbol of the resurrection.  Moreover, legend has it that white lilies sprung up where drops of Jesus' sweat fell as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before the crucifixion.  Talk about hope, renewal, and rebirth!

However you choose to celebrate Easter, we here at Sun Valley wish you a lovely one--may it be filled with the promise of new life, new flowers, and hope for the future.

"I think of the garden after the rain;

And hope to my heart comes singing,

'At morn the [lily]-blooms will be white,

And the Easter bells be ringing!"

-Edna Dean Proctor