Easter Flowers: Lilies, Tulips, Daffodils and What They Mean

Easter is the first big flower holiday of spring in Canada, and it often lands when there's still snow on the lawn. A vase of tulips or a pot of white lilies on the table is a promise that the season is turning.

Easter Sunday 2027 is March 28, with Good Friday on March 26. This guide covers the traditional Easter flowers and what they mean, ideas for Easter flower arrangements, one important warning for cat owners, and how to time your order. To see what we deliver, browse our Easter flowers.

Traditional Easter flowers

These are the flowers most people picture at Easter, and why:

• Easter lily: the white trumpet lily, the best-known Easter flower in Canadian homes and churches.
• Tulips: the most popular spring cut flower, in every Easter colour. Our tulip meaning guide covers each shade.
• Daffodils: bright yellow and among the first flowers up in Canadian gardens. In Norway and Denmark the daffodil's name translates to "Easter lily", and in German it's the "Easter bell". See our daffodil flower meaning.
• Hyacinths: dense, scented spikes, often given in pots. See our hyacinth flower meaning.
• Pussy willow: in Ukrainian, Polish and other Eastern European churches, pussy willow branches traditionally stand in for palms on Palm Sunday, a custom many Canadian families keep.

Easter lily meaning

The Easter lily is Lilium longiflorum, originally from the islands of southern Japan. For Christians it stands for purity, hope and the resurrection. The white trumpet is often read as a herald announcing new life, and the way the flower rises from a dormant bulb fits the Easter story. In Christian art, white lilies have long been associated with the Virgin Mary.

Outside a religious setting, the lily still means renewal and a fresh start, which makes it a thoughtful spring gift for anyone. Our lily flower meaning guide covers every type of lily and what each one says, from callas to stargazers.

A warning about lilies and cats

True lilies, including Easter lilies, Asiatic lilies, Oriental lilies and daylilies, are extremely dangerous to cats. According to the ASPCA, eating a small amount of any part, even pollen groomed off fur or water from the vase, can cause kidney failure. If a cat may have touched a lily, call a vet right away.

If you're sending to a home with cats, choose tulips, roses, gerberas, alstroemeria (Peruvian lilies, which aren't true lilies) or stock, and say "no lilies" in the delivery note. Daffodils, tulips and hyacinths are also on the ASPCA's toxic list, though they're far less dangerous than lilies; bulbs are the riskiest part. Our list of flowers safe for cats has the full picture.

Spring flowers for Easter

Because Easter falls in late March or April, the best Easter flowers are the ones in season in early spring. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, ranunculus, stock, freesia and iris all look and feel like spring, and florists have them in good supply.

The traditional Easter colours are white for purity, yellow for joy and sunshine, soft pink, and purple, the colour of Lent in many churches. Pastels together read as Easter instantly. You can browse by colour in our yellow flowers and white flowers.

Easter flower arrangement ideas

Different arrangements suit different parts of the weekend:

• A low centrepiece for Easter dinner or brunch, short enough to talk over. Pastels, tulips and a few eggs or branches tucked around the base work beautifully.
• A basket arrangement, a natural fit for Easter and easy to set on a sideboard.
• A hostess gift if you're going to someone else's table. Send it Saturday so they aren't arranging flowers while they cook. Our hostess gift ideas have more.
• A potted plant such as an Easter lily or hyacinth for someone who'd like to plant it out later.
• A bright bouquet for a loved one far away, when you can't make it home for the holiday.

The Spring Sunshine Bouquet is all yellow, with roses, gerberas and red and yellow tulips. Spirit of Spring is a petite basket of purple iris and yellow Asiatic lilies, and The Pastel Flower Basket is a soft basket with no true lilies, the flowers most dangerous to cats. Our everyday flowers also work for spring.

When to order Easter flowers in 2027

Easter Sunday is March 28, 2027, and there's no Sunday delivery. Good Friday, March 26, is a statutory holiday in most of Canada, and holiday hours vary, so for a weekend table the safest plan is to order a few days ahead for delivery on Thursday, March 25, or Saturday, March 27. Peak holidays can have earlier same-day cutoffs.

Orthodox Easter falls later, on May 2, 2027, so if you're sending to a Greek, Ukrainian, Serbian or other Orthodox family, check which date they celebrate.

Keeping spring flowers fresh

Spring flowers have a few quirks. Tulips keep growing in the vase and bend toward the light, so turn the vase daily and trim the stems if they get leggy. Daffodils release a sap that shortens the life of other flowers, so if you add fresh daffodils to a mixed vase, stand them in their own water for a day first. Lilies last longest if you pull off the pollen-covered anthers as they open.

A potted Easter lily or hyacinth does best in bright, indirect light in a cool room, with the soil kept lightly moist. Tear or poke a hole in any foil wrapper so water can drain instead of pooling around the roots. Our vase life guide covers cut flowers in more detail.

Sending Easter flowers anywhere in Canada

Flowers on Demand delivers across every province and territory through a network of local florists, who arrange and hand-deliver each order. Delivery is a flat $19.99. For same-day delivery, order before 1:00 PM in the recipient's time zone, Monday to Saturday; there's no Sunday delivery.

Start with our Easter collection, or find the town you're sending to on our delivery cities page. Local florists occasionally swap a stem for one of similar style and value when a flower is short, so if one flower matters most, say so in the card or delivery note.