Trillium doesn’t have great representation either. You rarely see it used by florists. Amateur gardeners often mistake the plant as dead and done. And it confuses “even the best of botanists.” In that regard, I see trillium as more of a coconspirator—a fellow misfit—than a symbol of pride.
Not aiding the flowers’ reputation, most varieties wreak. It’s thought of as a stinky plant, and that disgust is awfully familiar to the repulsion I’ve experienced from prejudiced groups within the queer community who see me as tainted or downright gross because of my sexuality.
But despite all the shade, trillium still thrives. According to Montague, the plant’s large bracts are an adaptation to capture the tiniest amounts of light that reach the forest floor.
“Different species develop their own characteristics in response to the microclimates they inhabit and the animals they interact with,” Montague says. “Some trillium hold their flowers high (pedicellate), while others hug their flowers on their shoulders (sessile).”
As a teenager, I came out as bisexual, but I quickly took it back for my own safety. A decade later, as an adult, I came out publicly as pansexual. Now, another decade later, I see my journey like a trillium. It took me a long time to bloom. And when I did, I had to hug my flower on my shoulder so tight. But over time I built a drift of chosen family, married the love of my life, and most days I hold my flowers high.
“Trillium has this funny habit of appearing in groups of four or four hundred,” Montague adds, “Sometimes sprouting up at the feet of trees or in sprawling populations filling a moist cove.”
I’m reminded of sitting at a friend’s kitchen table as a teenager, in awe of how fiercely his mother accepted me and how warm I felt there. Or how I came out to a former boss—the first time ever professionally—and his validation created a cascade of conversations with people in my life. It was a watershed for my confidence in myself, and proof that, like trillium, there is strength in numbers.
Bicon landscaping
Trillium is not a bouquet flower and Manion strongly cautions against using trillium for floral arrangements, since it takes the plant so long to flower. Montague advises against collecting trillium and other flowering plants from the wild, as their chances of survival after transplant are low. Plus the flower is considered sacred in some Indigenous Native American cultures, and picking it is not recommended.
