Lisianthus

Flower care guide

Lisianthus

Often mistaken for a rose at a glance, with softer, more crumpled petals and a slender stem carrying several blooms and buds at once.

In season

Year round, best in summer.

Also known as

Eustoma, Texas bluebell, prairie gentian

Caring for your lisianthus

Recut the stems at an angle and remove the lower leaves. Change the water every two or three days.

Each stem carries open flowers and tight buds together, and the buds keep opening after the first flowers have gone over. This is why lisianthus holds up so well: as the earliest blooms fade, new ones are already replacing them. Snip out each faded flower at its own small stem and leave the rest alone.

The stems are slender and the flowers relatively heavy, so they bend gracefully rather than standing rigid. Give them a vase with a narrower neck if you want them upright.

They are sensitive to ethylene, so keep them away from fruit.

Lisianthus is a prairie wildflower from the southern United States, domesticated for the cut flower trade only in the last fifty years.