My experience with Alstromeria is similar to Jane's (but *much* more limited in species). I grow a 12 foot row of the old ligtu hybrids, raised from seed, can't remember the source. They do well in my zone 7, 1000 ft. elevation garden. For the past 20 or so years the consistent bloom period peaks the last week of June. They are in unamended, well drained soil in full sun. They receive no supplemental water in our dry summers and are unmulched. The colors are (were...more below) in the peach/coral/pink/ rose/salmon range - no yellow or orange. I would guess that the ligtu hybrids might survive in slightly colder climates, *once the tubers get deep enough*, in very well drained soil, and with winter cover/mulch. I don't know about additional summer moisture. I think hard rain would damage the flowers. It might be worth a try to raise from seed in deep pots in a cool greenhouse/hoophouse, and then planting out very *deeply* once they've reached some size, maybe after two growing seasons, or more. Here they slowly spread by tuber increase (tuberous roots are very deep) and seed production. They are glorious when they bloom, but they produce copious seed every year and become invasive when they sprout in adjacent beds (I do vainly try to keep all spent blooms cut off and removed). Unfortunately the worse problem is that for the last five years they've been spontaneously reverting to the old yellow forms, which out-compete the desired colored forms. This is why I've not sent seed to the SX. I do not want the yellow flowered form as the inflorescence is small, and the color is not a bright, clear yellow, and doubt anyone would want OP seed. I pull all yellow flowered stalks as soon as I see them, but they are still proliferating. Like Jane, I've had poor results with the "Princess Lily" hybrid strain. They either die off or send up very weak stalks that never bloom after the first year. I've not had luck with the smaller various species. Hope this helps some. Mike zn. 7, cool mediterranean, western Washington state, USA On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 10:47 AM Jane McGary via pbs < pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > Laura Grant's highly developed method of protecting in-ground geophytes > well north of their hardiness zone is described in the Bulb Garden > article on autumnal bulbs.................. > On 4/27/2022 7:43 PM, Garak via pbs wrote: > > I've looked up southwest Michigan as 6b and you're right, that seems a > > bit cold, though continental snow covered could mean all the > > difference here. One could try with the old A. lightu hybrids, they > > should be able to take a little more cold than the modern colorful > > varieties............................... > > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>