South American Garden Plants - Alstroemeria

Name – Of South American origin, alstroemeria, which is also known as Peruvian lily, is related to the onion, daffodil, and agapanthus. It was brought to Europe in the eighteenth century and immediately became a popular flower in the gardens of the rich and noble.

Description – the colour range is wide including white, pink, yellow, salmon, red, lavender, orange, bronze and bicolours and the flowers which resemble a small lily (hence the name) or a large upturned freesia blossom, are nearly always freckled or spotted in the throat.

Origin – Alstroemerias love sun and a rich but well drained soil, so clay soil will need improving with compost and sand if you want to be a successful astroemeria grower. Given their origin, these are flowers that need plenty of light; too much shade makes them tall and leggy. Alstroemerias also enjoy regular watering and if the plants become dry, the foliage very swiftly becomes yellow, which looks horrible – the cure for this is to cut the plant to about six inches tall and water regularly as it re-grows. It's vital with this plant to pick the flowers daily, or at least to dead head and to make absolutely sure you remove any flowers that have formed seed pods as this stops the whole plant flowering, not just the stem with the pods. Despite their dainty appearance, the Alstroemerias multiply rapidly through underground rhizomes, this means that they spread very fast and are capable of going under paving, for example, to appear on the others side – they are also given to breaking the sides of plastic pots if not lifted from their containers and divided every two years.

For Decoration - Trim the stems under running water and set the flowers in water with a solution of cut flower food. Avoid using water with high fluoride levels, if possible, since alstroemerias are susceptible to fluoride damage.

South American alestroemeria photograph by bc anna, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

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