An interesting bit of history. Up until 1941 most all Easter lilies were imported from Japan. The attack on Pearl Harbor put an abrupt stop to that. If we wanted Easter lilies, we had to grow our own. It was already known that Easter lilies did well in a narrow strip of land paralelling the coast of Oregon. Those that grew daffodils and tulips in the area found that out when a local WW I soldier brought a suitcase full of bulbs back from Japan which he passed out. So, when WW II broke out local growers were quick to respond to meet the demand. In a round about way this was kind of the beginning of the lily growing business in Oregon as many would end up growing commercial lilies for de Graff at OBF later on. Eventually, Easter lilies were grown commercially as far inland as Iowa where Henry Fields grew acres of bulb stock for the forcing market.
