Flowers coming out green
A peace lily whose white spathes turn green, or blooms that never colour properly. Usually light or feeding, and often just age.
What it usually is
1 The bloom is simply ageing
| How to tell | A peace lily spathe that opened white and has gradually gone green over several weeks. This is what the species does: the spathe is a modified leaf and it takes up chlorophyll as it matures. |
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| The fix | Nothing is wrong. Cut the stalk out at its base when the spathe has gone fully green and looks tired, and the plant will put its energy into the next one. |
2 Too much nitrogen
| How to tell | Blooms that come out green from the start rather than turning green with age, on a plant fed regularly with an all purpose feed, with large soft dark leaves. |
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| The fix | Stop feeding for two months, then feed with something higher in potassium and lower in nitrogen, at the strength on the bottle, only in the growing season. |
3 Not enough light
| How to tell | Small, pale or greenish flowers on a plant in a dim spot, with fewer blooms than the year before and longer gaps between leaves. |
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| The fix | Move it to a brighter position out of direct midday sun. Expect the improvement to show in the next flush of flowers rather than in the ones already open. |
Through the year. Peace lilies flower most in spring and again in late summer, and blooms that open in the darkest months are the likeliest to come out small and green.
The commonest version of this question is about a peace lily, so it is worth answering that one plainly first. The white part of a peace lily flower is not a petal. It is a spathe, a modified leaf that surrounds the real flowers on the little spike in the middle, and like any leaf it can contain chlorophyll. A fresh spathe is white; over the weeks that follow it greens, and eventually it looks like an ordinary leaf with an odd shape. That is the normal life of the bloom, not a fault, and the right response is to cut the whole stalk out at its base once the spathe has gone and let the plant start another.
There are two situations where green flowers do mean something.
If the blooms come out green rather than turning green, look at the feeding. Nitrogen is the nutrient that drives leafy growth and chlorophyll production, and a plant given plenty of it will build both into everything it makes, including its spathes and bracts. The same is true of a poinsettia whose bracts colour poorly. Stopping the feed for a couple of months and then switching to something with more potassium than nitrogen changes the next flush.
If the blooms are small, few and pale as well as green, it is light. Flowering is expensive and a plant in a dim corner does the cheapest possible version of it. Peace lilies are sold as low light plants, which is true of their leaves and not of their flowers: they will live in a dim room and they will only bloom well in a bright one, out of direct sun.
One practical note. Cutting a spent flower stalk out at its very base, rather than snipping the stalk halfway, keeps the plant tidy and stops the stub rotting back into the crown.
Entries that name it
What the journal says about this symptom on each plant.
| Flamingo flower | A spathe ageing naturally, or too much nitrogen in the feed. Spathes turn green then brown as they go over, which is normal. If every new one comes out green, change to a feed with less nitrogen. |
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| Peace lily | Normal ageing, or too much feed. Cut spent flowers at the base; ease off feeding if new flowers open green. |
Questions from the margin
- Why are my peace lily flowers turning green?
- Because that is what they do. The white part is a spathe, a modified leaf, and like any leaf it takes up chlorophyll as it ages. Cut the stalk out at its base once the spathe has gone fully green and the plant will start another.
- Why do my peace lily flowers come out green?
- Too much nitrogen, usually. All purpose feed drives leafy growth and chlorophyll, and a plant given plenty of it builds both into its spathes. Stop feeding for two months, then use something higher in potassium.
Checked against RHS, Spathiphyllum; University of Florida IFAS Extension, Spathiphyllum production.