OT: Alstroemeria

From: "Sterling Okase" <sterling_o@hotmail.com>

Bill,

Thanks so much for posting this information on Alstroemerias. Since 
adding them to my garden last year I have been searching the web for 
more information about them. and so far have come up with nothing other 
than cut flower information. This information will come in handy.

Originally, I got my plant last year from a nursery and they were 
selling the root clipping from a large basket covered with damp peat 
moss. I was very excited to find them since I had been looking for quite 
a while for them. I brought my piece home and put it in a pot and 
covered it with soil. When I finally made some room in the garden, I 
planted it and I had no problems with the transplant. Beginner's Luck, I 
think. Since then, people have told me how difficult it is to 
transplant. I have since found more varieties but these were already 
potted so had no trouble putting them in the ground.

One of my plants is in dire need of more room...*natch* so I will be 
attempting to move it this fall. Fall would be the time to move 
it...yes? I am hoping that if I move it quickly, perhaps with soil 
attached, it will survive.

Also, I have already learned that their unusual seed pods are rather 
explosive!!!!! So rather than having Alstroemerias coming up everywhere 
in the garden (or worse....having my eye shot out by a seed!!! How do I 
tell the doctor that my plant shot me!!!), I have been collecting the 
yellowing seed pods and letting them pop in a covered container. I am 
not sure I am going to plant these but it would be fun to try them from 
seed. Maybe I will get other colors. The one plant I am collecting them 
from at the moment is not correctly named. I bought it as Alstroemeria 
Hybrid "Mona Lisa" which was supposed to be red, pink and white but this 
bloomed yellow with black lines on the upper petals (standards?)

Anyway, thanks for the information

Iris Maniac
Sterling (not Innerst)
 
>From: Bill Shear <BILLS@hsc.edu>
>
>Sterling and Jan are right that Alstroemerias are very difficult to
>establish from bare roots and also are hard to transplant.  The 
tuberous
>roots grow deep and are very brittle.  I grow a lot of them and have 
had
>almost no luck either trying to transplant them within the garden or in
>establishing purchased roots. I wouls suggest trying established potted
>plants if you want to get named varieties similar to the ones you find 
in
>florists' arrangements.
>
>However, they do grow easily from seed, as I explained in an article a 
year
>or so ago in FINE GARDENING.  The seed can be purchased from major 
sources
>like Park's or Thompson and Morgan.  It should be planted in the late 
fall
>or winter and placed in the refrigerator for six weeks.  After taking 
it
>out, give gentle bottom heat, and almost every seed will germinate.  
Move
>the seedlings while still small to 4" pots and thence to the garden in
>summer or fall.  They will bloom the next year and increase rapidly if 
they
>like your garden.  A loose, organic soil seems best, and in such a soil
>they can be very weedy (but what weeds!).  Another tip--picking them 
for
>the house, be sure you pull up the entire stem (which separates easily 
from
>the crown).  This will keep them blooming longer.  They are very
>long-lasting cut flowers.
>
>Last summer (97) I was photographing some beautiful clumps of 
Alstroemeria
>aurantiaca (golden yellow and orange) in the Royal Botanical Garden in
>Edinburgh, Scotland, and one of the gardeners launched into a long 
tirade
>about how difficult they were to keep out of the shrubbery and even the
>lawn.  I haven't tried this species, but the Salter and Ligtu Hybrids 
both
>clump up nicely and persist for many years.  There is also a hardy 
species
>(to Z6 or 5) called Alstroemeria psittacina.  About 2 ft tall, with 
rather
>tubular red flowers marked in black and green. I see that Plant 
Delights is
>offering a variegated version of this one.
>
>As companions for irises they have the drawback of producing a very 
dense
>mass of foliage that can overshadow and crowd the iris plants.  
However,
>this usually disappears entirely a few weeks after blooming, to come 
back
>in the fall.
>
>Bill Shear
>Department of Biology
>Hampden-Sydney College
>Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
>(804)223-6172
>FAX (804)223-6374
>email<bills@hsc.edu>
>
>How come you never hear about "gruntled" postal employees?
>			-IAQ (Infrequently Asked Questions)

 


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