Peace Lily, A Christmas Season Favourite

Saturday, December 19, 2009 04:43 AM

The Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum) is an indoor tropical houseplant that has a flower that resembles its name.

The flower looks similar to those of the anthurium or calla lily. It has a 4-6 inch tall spike of tiny, closely set flowers and surrounding the spike like a hood is a white flower bract. These fragrant flowers rise above the foliage and can last for a very long time. Even when it is not in bloom it is a very nice looking plant because of the large, oval shaped, glossy dark green, leafs that grow on top of long stalks giving the plant a nice bush shape. The Peace lily is also beneficial in cleaning the air of toxicants that are found in the home or office.

Another nice feature of the Peace lily is its ability to survive in low light areas making it a very easy to grow plant.

It only needs a few hours of indirect light (reading level) every day, but it does best and will bloom when it receives bright filtered light.

It needs to be kept moist when growing and over the winter months when it is not growing allow the soil to go dry between waterings. It is easy to tell when the plant lacks water because the leaves droop down and when you notice this it should be given a thorough water immediately. It is always best to use warm water that is at room temperature when giving the plant water and it does not like chlorinated water which can cause the plant to get brown tips.

Peace lilies enjoy warm temperatures of 20-25 Celsius and they should be kept out of drafts. You do not want to over fertilize a Peace lily as it can result in the plant having brown tips. Use an all purpose 20-20-20 fertilizer at half the manufacturer’s recommendation and only fertilize during the growing period.

Peace lilies do not require a lot of maintenance as they only need to be transplanted periodically when it becomes root bound. Remove the finished flowers by cutting them off where the flower stem meets with the leaf and snip off any yellow leafs when they appear.

If given the right conditions the Peace Lily is one of only a few tropical houseplants that will re-bloom in the home making it an ideal choice for any indoor décor.

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas filled with Peace and Love.

-Jos

Jos Van Hage owns and operates two Art Knapp Garden Centres in Prince George: