What to do with these Peruvian Lilies

My husband gave me some of these in a potted floral arrangement last mother's day. After they finished blooming, I cut them down and repotted the bulbs (or rhizomes... can't remember). I kept them out on the deck and they're very happy and green and growing and I don't know what to do with them for the winter.My choices are:
(1) Put them under some gro-lites in the bathroom with some other plants;
(2) Put them in a portable greenhouse that we put up on our deck and keep above freezing using 100 watt light bulbs when needed.
(3) Keep them in a sheltered area of our screened side porch with no artificial warmth but stick them in the greenhouse if we get one of our rare really cold snaps (below 15 F)
(4) Plant the pot in the ground
(5) Plant the plants in the ground
(6) Put them in a fairly sunny window...
.....others?

I take mine in, usually pot and all. They are then stored in the basement till spring.

I'm not sure what zone you are in but they are not reliable rebloomers (inground) down here and in Florida. I'm clueless about gro-lights with them and container culture.

GeorgiaJo, I'd suggest you ask this question on the Georgia Forum. I'm confident you'll find gardeners from around your area that have first hand knowledge of peruvian daff's growing habits here in Ga.
I have several in the ground and I do not plan on digging them up for our winter. This is my first year with them, they did bloom for me and the leaves are still green gathering energy to hopefully bloom again next year. I just don't have the second year experience with them to advise you. Please ask the GA folks. I'd like to know as well.

Deborah

I think there are two kinds of plants, one called peruvian lilys and that one is alstromeria. The other on is peruvian daff, not sure the name of that one. So what you do depends on which one you have. The alstromeria are hardy in the ground here at zone 9. I would say leave them in the pots, make sure you don't overwater during winter and keep them away from freezing. They should do fine. They may be fine in the ground for you as well, then its easy.
Rebecca

peruvian lily is the common name for alstroemeria
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/bulbs-summer/alstroemeria.html

Hey, my idea was fine, spelling sucks. Thanks for the link, good to know the hardiness of them.
Rebecca

Glad others are interested in these too. That link is great. Based on that info, I think I'll divide my bunch into two large pots and keep them in the greenhouse over the winter (doesn't get below freezing.. at last not for long). Oh - yes, mine are definitely the peruvian lillies (not dafs) - alstroemeria...)

I would just put them in the ground and mulch them good. They do just fine here (am in zone 8) and it gets cold in the winter here but come back nicely in the spring. Just put a stake/label/tag by where they will be planted so you don't plant over them.

jmorth,

This is an old thread I found by searching for alstromeria and I wondered if you let them dry out in the basement or try to keep them growing, or what. Can you be more specific on how you hold them over?

Lowes has a big 2 gallon pot of pretty ones for $19.99

Thanks,
Suzy

Illoquin,
I think rebeccanne figured it out when her post referred to there being two plants with the name Peruvian ________. My response last October was based on a mis-read on my part. I thought GeorgiaJo was referring to Hymenocallis, not Alstromeria. I've yet to grow the latter although I think I've read somewhere there might be one variety hardy to Zone 5.

Yes, I grow Sweet Somethting or other -- a non-descript whitish thing that is hardy at least to 0 degrees, but I want the cool looking pink and orange ones, and I don't think they're hardy.

Thanks for the prompt reply, tho, appreciate it.

Suzy

I did keep a pot of these (alstromeria) in the greenhouse during sub-freezing periods and on the back deck during our warmer winter spells. They did very well and have been blooming almost non-stop for at least 6 weeks now. Looks like this will continue for at least another month.

Just took another look at that website (http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/bulbs-summer/alstroemeria.html) and think it's probably exactly right.

Suzy, can you keep yours in a container and move it in for the winter?
jo

Yes, I can keep them in a pot, Jo, but I don't have a way to get them sun...not like what I think they'd want, as it is quite gray here over Nov-Dec and into Jan. and they'd be dependent on sun fro the windowsill. If they went dormant or lost their leaves, I could just throw the pot in the basement.

Suzy

They didn't really grow during the winter, Suzy. I think it's worth a try. Put them near a window and/or near a light of some sort. Even just a 60 watt bulb might be enough.

jo

Okay -- that sounds doable. Now I just have to get back up there and see if they still have them :)
Thanks,
Suzy

Just checking back on this alstroemeria thread (6 months later). My pot of peruvian lilies bloomed almost all summer even tho I neglected it as I usually do (can NEVER remember that plants like to eat!). Anyway, we're doing the same as we did last winter. Put it in the little GH when it gets really cold and keep it on our back deck the rest of the time. I have fallen in love with these - they produce flowers for such a long time, last so long after being cut, and are hummingbird magnets. So in love that I bought 36 tubers from BuggyCrazy for $12 a couple of months ago. Potted them up in a bunch of planters and danged if they aren't putting out growth. That's especially wonderful because I had no idea which side was up and which side was down. As Buggy said, they figured it out. Would love to hear back from any of you about how yours are doing. Suzy? Did you make it back to Lowe's for that pot? If not, contact me in the spring and I'll see if mine are doing ok - if so, I could probably share some. Deborah, I don't think this topic took off on the GA forum. I think I might have tried the Lily forum too. Oh well, maybe it's a niche plant.
Jo

Hey, Jo,

Glad you updated us. I must have waited too long to get back to Lowe's because when I went back, the display had completely changed over :( The ones I was looking at were such a rich bronzey red....they really were the most gorgeous things I'd seen.

I have one stinkin' yella one I bought from Park's, we'll see if it lives through the winter. Let's see how it does before I start begging some tubers from you. I do not need one more tender things to dig up in the fall and replant in the spring LOL!

Suzy

and DUH--
I obviously got my fingers crossed, but BuggyCrazy has 12 plants for $36 - NOT 36 plants for $12. OOPS

Another update on these wonderful plants (Peruvian Lily/alstroemeria)..

My first pot-ful is starting to bloom for its third year after spending another winter in my minimally heated greenhouse. It's apparently a dwarf, low-growing (princess?) variety.

As to the 12 cuttings I got from Buggy.. These seem to be a taller variety, more like you'd probably get in a florest arrangement. Just starting to bloom now and are very lovely. But they only have a few flowers each, atop a tall leggy plant. So if anyone can give advice as to how to manage these, I'd love it. Do I cut them down after blooming? Or, as with the smaller ones, do I sort of pull the entire stem out at dirt-level?

Also, for anyone's information.. These did fine over the winter as long as the green wasn't showing yet (and kept in a sheltered area). However, those that were putting out new growth in December (see my above post) did not make it thru the rest of the winter. I think they might have if I had squeezed them into the little GH or brought them in during our sporatic periods of hard-freeze. But, I didn't.. actually, I forgot about them and didn't move them to shelter when I moved my other semi-hardy plants. When I did remember them, the green had died-off. I kept hoping they'd come back this spring, but no such luck. Yesterday, i dug into one and saw these poor pitiful shrivled up little bulblets... Oh well, at least I have the others.

jo

My Sweet Laura didn't make it...probably because we had some electrical trenchwork done and I had to move it in July.

I'll look for pots of the shorter kind for Mother's Day.

Suzy

this is my first experience with alstromeria. i thought they were so gorgeous, i bought one at my local Lowes. anyway, after it pretty much was done blooming, i pulled each of the spent stalks from the rhizome. it was bare dirt for a couple of days. i was terrified that i had really messed up! now, there are about 6 or 8 new stalks coming up and leafing out. i hope it blooms again this summer.

tracie

Sorry Suzy... Those short ones are really nice - hope you can find some.
tracie - those are lovely. Are they the tall ones or the short ones? I'll bet they come back and bloom all season long.

I think this plant deserves a bit more exposure on DG, don't y'all?
jo

they are the taller ones. i would love some of the "Princess" ones as well, but they are kinda expensive!

tracie

I have heard that these don't like their roots disturbed, but once we all get a bit more quanitity, maybe we can start sharing. I really don't know why I get so few hits for this plant when i try to find more information and interest in DG. Perhaps it's the wrong community?

I am not expert but I do have quite a few. This is the information I got and use. They do not like being cut, if you see a spent branch that looks bad, yank it out, it will not pull out the tuber. If you let them go to seed, the seeds are decent sized and germainate easily, but put one per pot as I killed the whole bunch transplanting them. If I was going to do it again, I would use peat pots so I could repot the whole thing, the roots are very sensitive. Other than that, they are very easy to grow, will bloom till frost and multiply nicely, not invasivly but nicely. Only problem is that slugs and snails really love them.

When repotting or dividing them I found this quite easy. Pull them out of the ground or pot and pull them apart, try and get some foliage with each tuber. Plant them about 3 inches deep, water and thats it. If you break off foliage, tossthe foliage, it will die. If you have just tubers, pot them up, they will grow new foliage, but will take longer than the ones that have foliage. Thats all I know.

that's really useful information, rebeccanne. Thanks. I guess you have mild winters there. Do you do anything to protect them? Or move them?
jo

No I do nothing with them, and I think they may be okay in your zone. If you mulch a bit or cover them. They were fine when we had 2 weeks of snow on the ground a couple years ago. I would say go ahead and try them, I think they are tougher than people think. Put some in and keep some in pots and test, I would be careful with too much water being the bigger problem than the cold. IMHO

Alstroemeria are native to Chile. Your plants are modern hybrids and aren't as demanding as the species. In their native habitat they have wet winters and dry summers. Since they are deeply rooted they don't dry out (go dormant) until mid summer in Chile. I used them as a landscape plant in San Francisco CA, but, they weren't all that great because they like sun and lots of it. It is very foggy in parts of SF.

The advice given above is good for the hybrids, but, they prefer cool weather. If you live where is gets warm at night for the summer months then you should cut back on watering, even let them go dormant until fall. If you are growing them were it is cool most of the year they are easy.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=alstromeria&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search&searcher[common]=Alstroemeria

Rain lily is my favorite bulb for the near tropics.

A lot of the Alstromeria's are down right invasive around here...

This was from a mixture.. Not sure what it is.

Those are so pretty, GeorgiaJo! I wouldn't care to know as long as it grew and multiplied. I have some coming back but nowhere ready to bloom yet.

I am so very excited, dawg. These were from the batch I got from BuggCrazy last year, and are tall and graceful. My shorter ones haven't bloomed yet but are very close. I still can't understand why more people don't grow these. I absolutely crave 'em!
jo

I love alstromerias for cut flowers. I got some of these orange/yellow ones from my sister several years ago. These are the tall variety with strong stalks. And, like dmj1218 from Texas said, they can be invasive. I grow them in the back, sort of isolated, so that I can keep them in check. There is a huge difference in height and hardiness between all the different types of alstromerias. Here is a photo of one of my patches

And here is it is in a vase. I normally just yank the stalk out of the ground, and then trim to height. I need to dig around the clump every year to keep it from spreading. I am lucky to live in a zone where they can overwinter in the ground. Vegetative shoots come up during the winter, and I just cut them all back in early spring before the shoots with flower buds emerge.

You are lucky to have them overwinter so reliably. Ours are hit and miss. Here's one that made it.
jo