Floriculture farmers dumped freshly harvested lilies and gerberas into garbage pits after the COVID-19 lockdown brought their business to a standstill. With weddings, temple ceremonies, and public events cancelled, and transport completely halted, the flowers had no buyers and began to rot in storage. Growers who once plucked thousands of blooms daily said they were forced to throw them away despite heavy cultivation costs. The mass disposal of lilies and other flowers revealed the severe impact of the pandemic on India’s floriculture sector.