Lily of Peru and Peruvian lily are old names for the alstroemeria. It’s not a lily, and not all kinds come from Peru—some come from Chile and Brazil. But whatever their origin, they’re wonderful plants for American gardens.
The southern half of this country grows like any perennial. In moderately cold areas, you can mulch them with leaves or some strawy material.
In the coldest parts, handle them much the same as dahlias. Wherever and however you grow them, they are lovely plants, either flowering in your garden or as cut flowers in your home.
Similar To True Lilies
The flowers are quite similar to the true lilies (ilium), though smaller—usually between 1 ½” and 2” inches long. They grow in clusters (umbels) of anywhere from 5 to 25 individual blooms on stems 2’ to 4’ feet high.
Colors include tones of yellow, orange, red, and purple, generally with dark spots, and there are also pure whites. They last longer than any other garden flowers I have ever grown.
The plants are very attractive with their graceful, slender stems and my-like foliage. Alstroemerias grow from thick fleshy roots, which are brittle and almost transparent. Reasonably good soil and a lightly shaded location are their principal cultural requirements.
Blossoming in June, July, and August, they combine beautifully with shrubs or with most of the perennials that grow in the shade.
You can start them from roots, which are sold by firms featuring out-of-the-ordinary plants, or you can raise them from seed.
Start With Flowering Size Roots
It’s easiest and fastest, of course, to start with flowering-size roots. Order them early in the year and plant them as soon as you can safely do so, which will be sometime during the spring. Choose a spot that gets light shade for at least part of the day.
The roots should be planted 6” to 8” inches deep to avoid frost injury during winter, so dig the holes 10” or 12” inches deep and work a handful of plant food into the first 3” inches of fill in the bottom of each hole.
Cover this with an inch or so of plain soil, then set the roots at the correct depth, till up the hole, and mark the spot with a plant label.
Alstroemerias Can Survive Winters
If you live in the South, you needn’t worry about the plants being injured by winter. But, if you’re no farther north than Pennsylvania or Illinois, a mulch of oak leaves, straw, excelsior, or the like—say a foot or so thick and held down with heavy sticks—protects the roots from the worst frosts you’re likely to get.
November or early December will probably be early enough to apply the mulch.
In the coldest states, digging the roots in the fall and storing them over winter in a cool cellar in the sand, peat moss, or just plain garden soil is safer.
Plant them in the spring as soon as the ground can be dug, and there’s no chance of the soil freezing more than an inch or two.
Raising Alstroemerias From Seed is Easy
Raising alstroemerias from seed is easy enough but involves an extra season before the plant’s flowers.
They must also be transplanted from the seedbed to their permanent place in the garden.
I’ve had the best results from sowing the seed in an open seedbed in the garden in late summer or early fall. The seed stays dormant over the fall and winter and rises in the spring.
It can be sown in the spring, however, and so if you decide to try Peruvian lilies from seed next year, you’ll save time if you order the seed early and sow it when you sow your annuals.
Space the seeds about one-half inch apart in rows and cover them with about an inch of soil. Transplant the roots to their permanent places in the garden sometime in early fall.
Available Peruvian Lilies
Peruvian lilies available as roots or seeds include the following species:
- Alstroemeria aurantiaca—great sheaves of golden-orange flowers, the upper petals splashed carmine.
- A. chilensis—bright pink to rosy red, sometimes with a hint of orange, occasionally creamy white.
- A. ligtu hybrids—delightfully variable, white, pink, rose, apricot – orange.
- A. pelegrina—usually lilac-rose, the inner petals spotted purple; sometimes the entire flower is pure white without markings.
- A. pulchella—4-foot stems with whorls of uneven trumpets of rich red, each trumpet complete with a parrot-green tip.
- A. versicolor—rare species with bright yellow flowers, the petals flecked with violet-purple.
- A. violacea—bright lilac or purplish with darker spots on the inner petals.
In some botanical texts, you’ll find A. pulchella listed as A. psittacina. A. ligtu listed as A. haemantha, and A. chilensis listed as A. ligtu.
But since you’ll probably order them from a tradesman rather than a botanist, I’ve stuck to the names still generally used in seed stores and garden centers.
44659 by Fred C. Hubbard