Peace Lily

By Kim Willis These articles are copyrighted and may not be copied or used without the permission of the author.

Peace lily flower

Do you want a houseplant that will bloom without a sunny window?  Or a tropical looking plant for the shady porch or patio?  Why not try a Peace lily?  Spathiphyllum species are not true lilies and have been used as houseplants for hundreds of years. (A common name is spath lily). Peace lilies are great indoor air cleaners, removing harmful particulates from indoor air.   And best of all peace lilies are fairly easy to grow and are a great plant for beginning indoor gardeners.  They also make great patio container plants in the summer in shady areas.

There are some 40 species of peace lilies, they are native to South America, and southern Asia, and many are in cultivation.  They range in size from about a foot tall to over 6 feet tall at maturity.  Two small varieties are ‘Sonia’ and ‘Little Angel’.  ‘Domino’ and ‘White Stripe’ have leaves variegated with white.  One of the largest varieties of peace lily is ‘Sensation’ which often gets 6 feet tall and has huge leaves.  Most plants gardeners will find in stores will be simply marked “peace lily”.  They have green leaves, white flowers and get 3-4 feet tall.

Gardeners will want to start with a peace lily plant.  You’ll see seeds advertised, but peace lilies are hard to start from seed, slow growing and take years to bloom from seed.  Plants are propagated by division for quick growth and bloom.

The large, glossy green leaves of Peace lilies appear to rise right from the soil, there is no noticeable main stem.  This nice, glossy foliage is one of the best attributes of the peace lily, whether it’s one sitting on your desk or filling a shady spot on the deck.  There are a few varieties with white variegation in the foliage.

In spring and into summer peace lilies that are happy and healthy will have numerous white blooms similar to a calla lily bloom.  There is a rod shaped, white bumpy true flower surrounded by a big white bract, which most people see as a flower.  Large plants will bloom for 2 months or more, with several flowers blooming at a time.  When the flowers turn greenish, with browning edges cut the flowering stalk off.  The flowers are interesting but the plants foliage is pretty all year around. 

What Peace lilies need

Peace lilies like bright, indirect light.  They can be several feet from a west or south window, by a north or east window or even do well in brightly lit rooms without windows. If many leaves are turning yellow or looking browned on the edges or the leaves look bleached out the light level is too high.  Don’t let leaves touch cold windows.  When moved outside peace lilies must be kept in a shaded area, direct sun will quickly kill them.  My peace lily sits outside in the summer under a cedar tree, with sunlight only filtering through late in the day.  It absolutely loves it there and blooms all summer.

Peace lilies want temperatures about the same range as humans like, 65-85 degrees, with no cold drafts.  They will not survive temperatures that go below 45 degrees so wait before bringing them outside in the spring until it has warmed up and bring them back in before temperatures drop too much in the fall.  When they are outside keep Peace lilies protected from the wind. Of course they will gladly stay inside all year round if they are not situated over an air conditioning vent. 

Peace lilies have one special requirement, moisture- they need a fairly high humidity level and even soil moisture.  Keeping them in groups of other plants, giving them a shower once in a while, or using a humidifier in the home will help keep them glossy and happy.  Plants like growing by aquariums or water features also.  They are excellent plants for brightly lit bathrooms and laundry rooms.

Water the Peace lily as soon as the pot gets just a little dry, but before it wilts. When you do water, soak the pot well and let it drain from the bottom.  Wilted plants will generally recover when watered but don’t allow this to happen too often as it stresses the plant.  Using rain water, untreated well water or distilled water is better than chemically treated city water for all plants.

Use fertilizer sparingly on Peace lilies; start fertilizing in late winter using a flowering houseplant fertilizer mixed according to directions at every other watering.  Stop fertilizing in mid-summer.  Some growers claim Peace lilies are sensitive to artificial fertilizers and use only natural fertilizers like fish emulsion.  But others say it doesn’t make much difference what type of  fertilizer you use.  I use a commercial fertilizer that I use on all my houseplants and my peace lily thrives on it.

Peace lilies don’t require a lot of pruning or shaping.  Trim off any dead leaves or flowers.  Re-pot the plant only when it is so root bound that it needs very frequent watering or is splitting the pot.  They don’t mind crowded roots and bloom better when a little pot bound.  Use any light weight potting medium when you re-pot.  Aphids are occasional problems for indoor peace lilies.  You can treat them with an insecticidal soap spray or houseplant insecticide.

Peace lilies are mildly toxic to pets, keep pets from eating them (and the kids too).  They contain oxalate crystals which will cause a burning sensation in the mouth so pets rarely consume enough to be harmed.  If they did continue eating them they would begin vomiting long before they ate a toxic amount.

With a name like peace lily everyone needs one of these beauties in their home.  Maybe we should place them all over the senate and congress floors too.