As someone who works at a flower shop, I see a lot of different variations of flower species. For example, I see that lilies get the most attention, such as the class of 2025 choosing the alstroemeria lily as their class flower. In my time working at a flower shop, I have seen a lot of different types and kinds of flowers. The most shocking thing for me was the different types of lilies there are. 

Around Easter time, we were selling “Easter Lilies”. They are what people usually imagine a lily to be, but they grow at an angle. The flowers grow at a 90-degree angle from the stem. We also sell a lot of alstroemeria lilies. From what I have seen, they’re the most popular flowers.. Lilies, in general, are very popular. When you think of a patch of flowers, I bet that you think of at least one lily in there with the rest.

Lilies have about 2,000 different varieties around the world. My personal favorite is the Stargazer Lily. I remember being little and going to Lowe’s with my mom to pick out different plants for her garden, seeing that lily and always wanting to take it home with us, but we couldn’t. 

Stargazer Lilies are usually hot pink with white tips on each petal and long tubes of pollen in the middle. They can come in other colors, but while working in the flower shop, I have mainly seen the hot pink ones. Purple stargazers don’t look as purple as you would expect. They are a very dark purple with hints of hot pink in the middle of each petal, and those long tubes of pollen coming out from the middle. I haven’t seen any other colors of stargazers unless they were dyed by keeping the flower in colored water for a certain amount of time.

Tiger Lilies, or scientifically known as “Lilium lancifolium”, don’t look like the average lily. I think they stand out more than the others because of their bright orange petals and their inverted look. They look like a different species of flower. The petals on this lilly curl outward toward the leaves with the pollen poking outside the petals. The only noticeable similarity is the darker dots in the center of the flower. While the orange is the most popular color, there are also white and light pink tiger lilies.

I think that all lilies are beautiful in their own ways, like all flowers. They are my favorite flowers and probably always will be. I love all the different varieties of them; they all have such different personalities.