What’s the best way to keep an Easter lily alive and healthy?

To keep your potted Easter lily at its best, place it in cool daytime temperatures of 60 to 65 F and nighttime temperatures 5 degrees cooler. Avoid placing the potted plant in direct sunlight. Direct sunlight will cause the flower to wilt. It thrives nicely in indirect daylight. Most plants will lean toward sunlight. To keep the plant growing upright, turn the pot every two days.

Keep the plant moist, but not soggy. Most Easter lilies are sold commercially in pots covered with decorative foil jackets. No water should ever be left standing in the bottom of this covering or the life of the lily will be ruined. Remove the pot from the foil covering every time you water the plant. Once the water has soaked into the soil, you may return the pot to the foil covering.

Where did the Easter Bunny come from?

How the Easter Bunny tradition began isn’t entirely clear; however, Germany has been credited with the origin of associating a bunny with Easter. In 16th-century literature, there are accounts of a bunny that, each spring, would reward the good with eggs. The first edible Easter bunnies, made out of pastry and sugar, were made in Germany during the early 1800s.

Prior to the Christian holiday of Easter, the hare and rabbit showed up often in pre-Christian fertility lore. These animals often served as symbols of new life during the spring season.

In America, the Easter Bunny was introduced by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s. The arrival of what they referred to the bunny as “Oschter Haws” was considered “childhood’s greatest pleasure” next to a visit from Christ-Kindel on Christmas Eve. The children believed that if they were good, the Oschter Haws would lay a nest of colored eggs.

The children would build their nest in a secluded place in the home, the barn or the garden. Boys would use their caps and girls their bonnets to make the nests. The use of elaborate Easter baskets would come later as the tradition of the Easter bunny spread throughout the country.

Which front moves faster, a cold or warm front?

Cold fronts move faster than a warm front, or a stationary front. On average, a cold front moves 20 mph, a warm front travels 15 mph and a stationary front moves very slowly or not at all. A cold front is defined as the transitional one where a cold air mass replaces a warmer air mass. The air behind a cold front is noticeably colder and drier than the air ahead of it. Sometimes when a cold front passes through, temperatures can drop more than 15 degrees within the first hour.

If you have a question about the weather, gardening, history, astronomy, cooking or trivia, e-mail the Farmers’ Almanac Editors at [email protected].