Alstroemeria – The Peruvian Lilies

I met my first Alstroemerias when working for Boulter’s Nursery in Olinda in the 1960s. The nursery had been started after the First World War by Mr Vic. Boulter and when I worked there was run by his two sons, Frank and Geoff. At the time the nursery grew Rhododendrons in the open ground. Boulters was the biggest Rhododendron nursery in the southern hemisphere with more than twenty acres planted out in paddocks of rich chocolate volcanic soil. It wasn’t always thus.

The first crop that Papa Boulter, as we all called the founder of the business, grew was cut flowers. One of those flowers was “Alstro”, Alstroemeria aurea.  A native of Chile and Argentina, not Peru, this species was all too obliging. Whilst making a profitable cut flower crop for papa Boulter it became a serious weed problem for his sons. So serious that it had colonized many acres of prime Rhododendron growing fields.

Alstroemeria is a large South American genus of long-lived perennials which grow from clusters of tubers. They make superb cut flowers and are grown world-wide in thousands of hectares of glasshouses are dedicated to their cultivation.

For many years the only varieties available to gardeners were the glass house cut flower varieties. Whilst excellent for picking they grow much too tall for general garden use as the flower stems fall over unless staked and when staked the plants lacked grace.

The plant breeders then went to the other extreme and bred dwarfer and dwarfer plants making proud boasts that their particular varieties were the smallest on the market. Whilst pretty in pots these plants are pretty useless in the garden. You may just as well grow Petunias.

Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’

Not all was lost. There were one or two breeders who saw the need for Alstroemeria which grow taller than the midgets but not as tall as the cut flower giants. One of the best results of this work is the award-winning Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’.

We’ve grown ‘Indian Summer’ in the flower garden at Lambley for three years now and not only does it give a near endless supply of cut flowers for the house from late spring until late autumn it is a very showy border plant. Fully self-supporting its attractive bronze foliage making a perfect foil for the funnel shaped flowers, which are copper-orange and yellow, speckled with crimson.

And most importantly, ‘Indian Summer’ stays in its allotted space and doesn’t become weedy.