Sunshine Farm and Gardens: Glick Pick Archives: Alstromeria psittacina

Sunshine Farm and Gardens

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Alstromeria psittacina

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WOW!!! A hardy Alstroemeria??? Yes a hardy Alstroemeria!!! A native of Northern Brazil, Alstroemeria psittacina is a GREAT cut flower growing here in my zone 5 garden for over 10 years now.

The luscious, supple foliage makes a great groundcover, and in mid Summer, the reddish green flowers rise up 12"-24" over the foliage. Because the flowers shoot out at different angles, it is difficult to photograph, so please keep this in mind as you view the enclosed photo. Propagation is very easy from division, and being a species, it comes true from seed.

I am getting ready to trial out another species that I've been growing from seed and understand to be hardy also to zone 5, Alstroemeria aurantica. It has a really different, deep, yellowish-orange color with dark black veining, stay tuned!

Linnaeus named this genus in honor of his buddy and pupil, Baron Clas Alstroemer (1736-1794), a Swedish naturalist.

Alstroemeria has long been a cut flower on the tables of many a fine restaurant. Most of the hybrid Alstroemerias that are sold in this country are imported by air freight from South America.

Dr. Mark Bridgen at the University of Connecticut has been doing some real serious breeding work in the genus Alstroemeria, rather than clog up your mailbox with a bunch of attachments, I have set up a link for Mark to get on his soapbox and tell you all about his work. There are 4 jpegs and the text file is his story in his own words. http://www.sunfarm.com/images/Alstroemeria His introductions are not only bold and beautiful, but hardy. Marks email address is bridgen@uconn.edu

Just the facts M'am:
Kingdom - Plantae
Phylum - Anthophytae
Class - Monocotolydonae
Subclass - Liliidae
Order - Liliales
Family - Alstroemeriaceae
Genus - Alstroemeria
Species - psittacina
Common name - "Spider Lily"
Synonyms - Alstroemeria pulchella
Native of - Brazil
USDA Hardiness Zone - zone 5, maybe 4?
Light preference - Full sun to full shade
Soil preference - Average
Moisture preference - Average to moist
Bloom time - Mid Summer
Bloom color - White
Foliage - Medium to light green
Spread - slow to medium groundcover
Height - 12" - 24"
Landscape uses - Mid border
Medicinal uses - None that I have found

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© 2001 Barry Glick and Sunshine Farm & Gardens

Barry Glick, Sunshine Farm and Gardens
696 Glicks Rd, Renick, WV 24966, USA
Phone: (304) 497-2208
E-mail: barry@sunfarm.com

Last modified February 25, 2020
URL: https://www.sunfarm.com/picks/alstromeriapscitticina-124121.phtml