“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 (King James Version)

The Easter Lily is coaxed into springtime blooms for today's holiday. But you can plant it outdoors after the last frost and enjoy its blooms again this summer.

We gardeners know about planting and plucking. We know about the seasons. We are acutely aware of the rhythmic passage of time. We notice the rising and setting of the sun and the cyclic emergence of each new season as the previous one retreats.

Yet we gardeners are not alone in our season-watching ritual. Plants, too, have their time, their season. Some flowers, like annuals, complete their life cycle germination, growth, flowering and seed production in one season. Biennials take two years, growing the first and flowering and fruiting the second. The perennials live much longer: years or decades.

Occasionally, a flower’s season coincides with special holidays and celebrations. A timely example is the Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis). This hardy perennial blooms between March and May, typically during the time many people observe Lent.

Lenten rose is an early-blooming plant with deep green leaves. It reaches a height of 16 inches. The outward-facing saucer-shaped blooms in white or greenish-cream colors are 2 to 3 inches in diameter. As the flowers age, they become pinker in color.

The Lenten rose grows in shady beds that have been liberally infused with organic matter. It prefers neutral to alkaline soil, detests overly dry or wet soils and appreciates protection from winter winds.

Trumpeting Easter

But today, Lent is over and Easter is here. So is the Easter lily (Lilium longiflorum). Its elegantly simple trumpet-shaped blooms are 6 to 8 inches long with a spread of 4 to 5 inches. Each bloom may last up to a week.

The snowy white flowers with yellow anthers are symbolic of purity and holiness. They bow gently, legend has it, in everlasting respect for Jesus. Their strong, sweet, clean fragrance holds the promise of the season spring.

Although we see the Easter lily at this time of year, it is not a springtime bloomer. Rather, it is coaxed into blooming in containers to coincide with today’s religious holiday. Normally, the plant blooms in the summer. Others of the more than 100 species of lilies produce blooms from spring through fall.

Even though the Easter lily has bloomed for today, it will rebloom later this summer if planted. After frost danger has passed, place the flower in a sunny location at a depth a few inches more than it was in the container. The bulb of the plant should be about 6 inches deep. Cover the bulb with soil, water thoroughly and fertilize with all-purpose fertilizer.

Within a few weeks the leaves will wither and die. In time, new leaves will emerge and the plant will rebloom. The bulb may be left in the ground. Then, in its own season and in its own time, the Easter lily should bloom for years to come.

Time for a bit of pluck

In the end, we gardeners can see the purpose for things. We have watched the movement of the seasons from one to another. We know that the time to pluck up that which had been planted last year is the present. We are cleaning the flower beds, removing last year’s spent annuals and clearing the way for this year’s perennial appearance.

We gardeners are biding our time. Each year we witness the reawakening of plant life. Indeed, to everything there is a season. And the season of life, the season of gardening, is almost upon us.

Carol Boncella is education coordinator at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and home and garden writer for the Journal-World.