Lily
Stargazer
“Buy them in bud and watch the overnight transformation. One stem in a tall vase is all you need for the most theatrical reveal in the cut flower world.”
— ROSIE
Rosie's Take
I have a complicated relationship with Stargazer lilies. On the one hand, the scent is so powerful it can fill an entire house — not a room, a house — from a single stem. On the other, that's exactly why some people can't bear them. I've seen guests physically step back. I've also seen people close their eyes and breathe in like they've just discovered oxygen. There's no middle ground with Stargazer.
The flowers are unapologetically dramatic. Enormous, upward-facing trumpets in deep pink speckled with crimson dots and edged in white, with those heavy stamens loaded with rust-coloured pollen that will ruin any shirt it touches. I take the stamens off the moment they open. I've learned the hard way. Twice.
She's an oriental hybrid, which means she blooms in mid to late summer and each stem carries multiple buds that open in succession over a week or more. A single stem can carry four or five flowers, each one six inches across. You don't need many. One stem in a tall vase is a statement. Three stems and you're making a point.
I buy them in bud — tight, green, promising nothing — and watch the transformation over four or five days. The buds swell, a crack of colour appears, and then one morning you walk into the room and the whole thing has opened overnight. It's the most theatrical reveal in the cut flower world.
They're not subtle. They're not for everyone. But if you want a flower that announces itself from across a room and refuses to be ignored, Stargazer is your lily. I respect that kind of confidence in a flower.
Where to Buy
If you want to try lily for yourself, here's where I'd point you:
“The Blossomist carry gorgeous oriental lily stems through summer — their Stargazers always arrive in tight bud, which means you get the full five-day reveal at home. Worth the wait.”
Order This Flower →“Appleyard do a lily bunch that fills a room. Genuinely fills it. Fair warning to anyone sensitive to scent — open a window.”
Order This Flower →✿ From the folklore cabinet
Lilies have been associated with purity and death in equal measure — the Madonna lily appears in Christian art for centuries, while in many cultures lilies are the funeral flower. Stargazer was bred in 1978 by Leslie Woodriff, who wanted an oriental lily that faced upward instead of nodding down. He named her for the way she looks at the sky.
