Alstroemeria Peruvian Lilies Bulbs

Information on Alstroemeria and peruvian lilies bulbs.

Alstroemeria Peruvian Lilies Bulbs

Alstroemeria, or Peruvian Lilies, may be had in bloom from late May to the beginning of October. They are 2 or 3 feet tall, should be planted in late October in a sunny border made up with peat and leaf -mould, fresh turf loam, and roadside sand. Yet they can do with out peat, and I have seen them flourishing in woodlands in semi-shade. The half-hardy kinds, like many species of plant, are rapidly becoming classed as hardy, and have actually acquired stamina since their introduction. The following may live out of doors, mulched over winter after winter, or can be potted, singly or in threes or fives, in big pots or tubs for greenhouse adornment. Plant 6 inches deep ; pot like Liliums.

Long sticks are needed for the Peruvian Lilies, or they may be held up by strings, passed from plant to plant of a row, and fastened to stakes at yard distances.

An old author mentions how a plant of Alstrcemeria aurea, from one bulb set in front of a greenhouse, became 4 feet tall, and threw up fifty flower stems by the end of the second year !

Watsonias, or Bugle Lilies, may be admirably associated with Gladioli, requiring similar culture whether out in the garden or in greenhouse pots.

Watsonia Ardernei, the giant of the tribe, sends up delicate-looking 4-foot spikes of snow-white flowers, and other spikes of lesser stature will follow when the first has been gathered from the base. Watsonia coccinea is a dwarf summer species, of true vermilion.

Watsonia Neriana has tawny-rose blossom spikes, while those of the tall Watsonia August if olia are pale pink .

It should be remembered that Gladioli and Alstroe merias are striking centre or ' dot ' plants, in sym metrically designed bulb beds.

We have now, I think, looked thoroughly through the opportunities of the gardener who wishes to cultivate bulbous plants in the open or under glass ; for, though some varieties have been omitted, no doubt, some species referred to only in passing on, if the suggestions that are in this book are followed, even in part, the subject of Bulb Gardening will be excellently understood.

To increase one's stock of plants is but recreation, after one has learnt how to manage scores of others.

Bulbs the chrysalides from which seeds pass to plant-life are poetic in themselves and in their results.

It is, believe me, no small good to persuade an adult, or train up a child, to rejoice in blossoms.

I like to recall the questions asked years ago by ' Old Humphrey/ before I lay down my pen.

' Have you ever sat on a shady bank gazing on the earliest Primrose of the year with admiring wonder ? Or bent in a retired nook with intensity of interest over the blue minute flower of the Forget-me-not ? If you have not done these things you know not the pleasure, the joy, the delight, that may be excited by a flower/

From a Lilium giganteum to a Galanthus nivalis, all are precious.

Which shall we cultivate then ? Surely all ? If possible.

The Best Peruvian Lilies and Alstrcemeria

• ALSTRCEMERIAS AUREA. Orange, spotted carmine.
• ALSTRCEMERIAS LUTEA. Pale yellow, spotted carmine.
• ALSTRCEMERIAS REVO HIT A. Orange-red.
• ALSTRCEMERIAS PSITTACINA. Known as the Parrot Flower. A crimson flower, streaked with green and bright brown.
• ALSTRCEMERIAS PELEGRINA. Pale rose.
• ALSTRCEMERIAS PELEGRINA ALBA. White.
• ALSTRCEMERIAS CHILENSIS HY BRIDS. Rose, gold, lemon, blush with crimson markings.

---