Growing Alstroemerias
Alstroemeria Varieties
There are many Alstroemeria varieties available to home gardeners. All are beautiful, but not all are hardy to zone 7. The hardier ones are usually yellow and/or orange.
- Alstroemeria Sweet Laura - Bright yellow with orange and black stripes and spots. It is also the only Alstroemeria with a fragrance.
- Alstroemeria 'Pacific Sunset' - These are meant to be a dwarf mix of colours ranging from white to pink to yellow. Are they? I've bought several that could never be described as dwarf, but maybe you will have better luck.
- Alstroemeria 'Orange King' - Bright orange, tall stems, quite hardy. Beautiful planted with late-summer perennials such as Asters and Echinacea, because it's so long-blooming and bright.
- Alstroemeria pulchella - a wonderful species which is not widely available but may be soon, and probably should be. It is one parent of many of the hybrids, and while it's not hugely hardy (lives fine here over winter in zone 9 but that's not saying much), it is vigorous and highly free-blooming. There are two scans of this on the page, and neither does justice. The narrow tubular blooms are deep red, with green tips and tiger-striping on the insides of the petals. They are also a little less prone to growing very tall and needing staking.
- Astroemeria litgu - This has interesting, grey-green foliage. Contains many colours and variations of coral pink, white, yellow, pale orange and pink.
- Alstroemeria 'Freedom' - Large, red and white bi-coloured blooms.
- There are many other varieties available. If you would like information on more, or would like to see one added, please mention it in the related discussion area (linked to below).
Increasing Alstromerias in your Garden
Increase by division in spring. Make sure the delicate spidery root systems go into very soft, rich soil. Ammending the immediate division are with potting soil is a good idea. Some people say Alstroemeria division is difficult but I have not found this to be true, as long as the transplanting is careful and set at a good depth. Seeds can also be sown in Spring (March or April is best).
Alstroemerias as Cut Flowers
Alstroemerias make excellent cut flowers. In fact, their buds will sometimes continue to open even as the leaves yellow and begin to die. Alstroemerias demand a lot
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