Alstromeria
David Victor (Sat, 03 Jun 2006 09:08:54 PDT)

I've just read the pieces about Alstromeria and their hardiness and
thought that I might some experience from the UK.

I grow a fair number of species Alstromeria, mainly from John Watson
collections. All of them are grown in deep pots in a cold greenhouse
- late frosts in my part of the UK (most years the last one is around
this point of the year) make it impossible to grow them
outside. Normally they flower in mid spring, mostly April
time. However, this year, a cold period early in the year penetrated
the greenhouse protection and destroyed some of the top growth. As a
result, they have been set back by a couple of months and are just
coming into flower now. A. pulchra, A. patagonica, A gayan, A.
pelegrina and A. magenta are all in flower today and more are breaking.

The Bomarea suffered a similar fate and are also in the process of
flowering today.

Incidentally, someone asked last year for me to swap notes on
Watson's collections. Sadly, I have lost the note, so I would
welcome a reminder of who it was.

Best regards,
David Victor