We all love lilies; they have huge conspicuous blooms which add undeniable elegance to your garden and yard during the summer. They are perennial flowers that return every year and need little care, as long as you plant them in a suitable place. Lilies feature six magnificent and plain petals and typically have a trumpet shape, large and tall, rigid stem with extended lance-like leaves.
But do Blue Heart lilies exist?
The short answer is no. Lilies come in various colors, and blue is not one of them. There are several reasons for blue-colored plants. The first one is cutin which offers the leaves a silverish-blue shade. Lilies don’t usually have a blue pigment, but they can produce it via a reflection and absorption of light waves. Hence, the blue color is possible, though it’s not popular.
How do you get a blue tint on your lilies?
Even though blue heart lilies don’t exist, there is a way you can give your lilies a blue tint. First, you can use the Dense Blazing Star or Blue Delphinium plants as imposters for your lilies. However, the color is not usually that vibrant. It is more of a light shade of blue than a deep shade. All the same, the plants will still give your lilies the desired effects.
There are a handful of other ways to get the blue color. You can go for paint or dye. The blue shade might not be conspicuous if painted on the petals compared to dyeing it in when it’s growing, though it should have the effects necessary to meet your needs.
Other methods to get the blue tint on your lilies
To get a vibrantly blue heart lily, you might want to consider painting or dyeing naturally growing white lilies. Among the most popular methods to get a blue shade on flowers is applying hair dye.
Alternatively, you can use food dye on your white lilies. Combine dish soap, water, and food color for an effortless way to shift white or green lilies into bubbly blue ones. This is the safest and most recommended method.
The process of coloring is easy for individuals who know how to achieve the desired color impact or want it done by a professional. The dyes come in two types, dark purple points and light blue roots, and those with a deep blue root and white petals.
For the one with light blue roots and dark purple tips, you’ll require red dye, water, and a few lemon juice drops for fragrance. Then, you’ll have to soak the cloth straps till they’re saturated before covering the stems with them, just beneath the petals.
For the other type, you’ll require soaking a piece of cloth in blue dye, then covering the stem’s plant with it. This should be done after several weeks, for best results.
In both instances, you might not be able to prevent your fingers and hands from getting different colors, so make sure you wear gloves.
How to grow blue heart lilies
Now that you know how blue heart lilies get their blue color, it’s time to see how to grow them so beautifully your neighbors will turn green with envy! Here are some ideas that will come in handy in growing such blue heart lilies:
Early planting
Make sure you plant the seeds early. You can begin growing your lilies in a container if space is an issue. Make time and plant them early, approximately four weeks before winter. The objective is to ensure your flowers have grown significantly by the time Spring comes. Again, this allows them to flower earlier, sometime before summer.
Choose potting soil with high fertilizer content.
It’s not hard to grow blue heart lilies. They simply need water, which is why they flourish in most soils. On the other hand, to ensure they thrive without fail and look attractive, you should utilize potting soil enriched with fertilizer.
Ample drainage
Ensure that the containers you’re planting them in have excellent drainage. As mentioned above, blue heart lilies love water. All the same, they don’t thrive when left in waterlogged soil for a long time. For this reason, it would help if you made sure the containers have reliable drainage.
If you do not offer them adequate drainage, the roots of your blue heart lilies will start rotting and could even die.
Expose them to the sun
Just like most flowers, exposure to the sun is beneficial to lilies. Plus, they love the sun. Therefore, if you need your wonderful flowers to grow into stunning and incredible blooms, you need to expose them to sunlight every day for six hours or more.
If you don’t do this, the stems begin growing towards the sunlight’s direction and will eventually fall or break, and if they do survive, they look weird. Similarly, ensure to position your indoor lilies at the window, or a place where they’ll get enough exposure to the sun, or grow them outdoors to avoid the hassle.
Constantly fertilize and water your blue heart lilies.
For your blue heart lilies to grow and bloom as desired, it is essential that you water them after every two days and monitor the soil around the base and adequately fertilize them; once every week.
These flowers thrive in humid and moist surroundings; thus, you should be careful not to leave them without water as they will dry. Always make sure that the soil is never completely dry.
Conclusion
Well, as you have seen, blue heart lilies do not exist. However, you can turn your white lilies into blue ones by dyeing, painting, or planting them with different imposter plants that will eventually generate that wonderful blue shade. The safest and most advisable method is using food dye.
Everyone wants their garden looking exquisite, and what says exquisite is more than a yard full of blue heart lilies with their prominent blue leaves. Besides, they are easy to grow and take care of. You only need to water and fertilize them frequently. Lastly, they mostly do well in zones 8 and 9.