Sharon, I checked my calendar and it's been about 6 weeks since I planted my first(original) rhizome, and there's still nothing. It's been about 3 weeks since I planted the ones from Brenda and nothing either......soooooo when I happened to be in the Greenspot yesterday, 'Oxana' jumped into my hands and begged to be taken home!lol They were in full bloom and simply spectacular, and like BJ said they were "WOW"! So how could I say no? ;^)

Since Shelley claims that Oxana is more vigorous than some others, maybe I'll have better luck with that one. Time will tell if I can over-winter this one any better.

May I introduce all of you to Princess Isabella? She and her twin, also named Isabella, jumped into my arms yesterday at Arch greenhouse in Edmonton. I think they will look pretty nice with my Sara.

They've got lots of them right now at Arch, for anyone interested in the Edmonton area. They're priced at $15 for a 6" pot. A bit steep to what Brenda found at Greenspot. How big a pot did you get, Brenda? If anyone sees them at a better price than this, let us know.

Gee, we keep this up and we're going to have every colour between all of us. Anyone interested in setting up trades next spring?

Shauna

I'll trade Shauna. I divided all of mine this spring and gave them away to local family and friends. I paid $20 each for mine last spring. So you still got a deal.
Shelley

Sounds great, Shelley. I think I paid about $8 to send some to Sharon, about a 2 hour drive away, and about $12 to send it to Marcia in Ont. Is that right, gals? I just erased my e-mails on that today. Anyway, sending them to each other is probably alot cheaper than buying them.

I'll put my name in for Oxanna and Zevina. And I'll easily be able to send out Sara and Isabella. The Isabella pots have about a dozen healthy sprouts in each. Should be lots next year. If it is the same as this year, I should have about 8 trades, 4 of each. But, I guess I shouldn't be putting the cart before the horse, eh?

Shauna

Shauna, i cringe when i think what you spent to send them to me. Especially since i seem to have killed them.... :`( I'm so sorry. I think my house is too dry for some things. Even though i watered them well when they were planted, they seem to have dried out. I even searched around catalogues to see if i could replace them and pretend - but i couldn't find "Sara" anywhere. So now i have to confess. I'll have to send you a whole lot of something to make up for it!!

Yes Shauna, it was about $8 postage just to send 2 hours away, but all 4 pots that I started are doing wonderful! I can't wait for them to bloom.

I'll be looking hard to see if any of the nurseries around here will be selling them, hopefully I can get on the trade train with you gals next spring.

Sharon

That's OK, Marcia, you don't have to send me anything. It was good to try it. Are you sure they're dead though? Did you empty the pot out? They may just not have started yet. Sometimes they may stall a bit. Obviously, though, if the roots are hollow and dry, there's nothing left. Maybe that they froze drastically in the package on the way there. Honest, it's okay. Nothing's changed. : )

I've put mine outside, even though we're getting sleety snow right now. My dear kitty decided that the large pots looked alot like a litter box again so I had to move them. It was so nice out that I put them all outside. How silly not to have looked at the forecast. But, they can tolerate a few degrees of frost, so they all should be fine. It's supposed to hover around +1 or so as lows for the next few days. I've been tossing towels over them at night. And now that they are outside, I want to leave them there.

Sharon, I'm glad to hear that you got 4 pots out of them. That should give them plenty of space to get a good system going below the soil.

Shauna

It is a deal Shauna. I see that you have put yours outside already. Then I should bring mine home and start to harden them off. The 2 that I repotted earlier-Julietta and Zavina have filled the 16" pots with shoots already. They are going to be so full this year. Can wait for the blooms.

Shelley

Yes, Shauna, i checked the roots and they were all hollow. My cannas died this winter too. Last year, they wouldn't stop growing, and this year the bulbs dried right out. Of course, it's the time i "owe" someone else some bulbs - she gave me some yellow cannas last fall. Speaking of which, i have to find them.... :)

I found a new one today. Sara. It isn't the same colouring as yours Shauna. Have a look.

{{gwi:736325}}

They were $20 again in a 6" pot. But I think that they are smaller than last year.
I wonder if yours was labeled right. It looks somewhat like my Zavina, but yet it is different.

Shelley

Shelley, I'm thinking that you may be correct, but I haven't found mine on the website, either. I saw Sara in bloom at the greenhouse that I just bought Isabella at and it looked very much like yours. How about for now we call mine Princess Shauna, just among us friends? LOL My brothers always tell me that I'm a "princess". In the meantime, I'll send my picture to Holland and see if they can identify it for me. Thanks, Shelley. I've made a few references to the color of mine being different. I probably should have sent it to them before for clarification. Ang, Sharon and Jocelyn, I'll get to the bottom of this yet.

Shauna

Now I am wondering?? Kind of looks like mine as well. Although my tag shows the same colouring as my plant.

I haven't gotten an email to say my order has been shipped from Botanus, but I just checked my Visa and see that they charged it on April 13th. Hopefully that means that they are on the way.
Joan

Joan, don't worry they will be coming. They usually bill earlier than they send. You most likely ordered later than some of the rest of us. I had also requested to send as early as possible. Weather permitting.

Shelley

I thought I would post part of an email that I sent. It was an observation when I replanted my Princess lilies.
One thing that I did notice and whether it makes any difference, I can't say. I had my 4 Princess lilies in dark Grey pots. My mother had hers in a black pot. My Lutea was in a white pot. The root system on my mothers Oxanna was massive compared to mine. (she neglected hers while I babied mine and they were both bought at the same time.) My Lutea from Botanus I did find one tuber in to re pot. (I just re potted this lonely thing) All of the pots were roughly the same size. And they were all kept in the same area for the winter. I'm wondering being that this is a tropical plant that it likes the heat from the darker pots.????

What colour pot did you grow yours in? I want to know if it made a difference.

Shelley

Mine are in large, white patio pots. But, it certainly is a valid theory. I'll plant my Isabella's into darker pots and see what happens next spring.

Shauna

Here is the reply from Royal Van Zanten regarding my inquiry of identifying my Sara alstromeria. Interesting, but now we know for sure.

Hello,
I just like to confirm the variety in the picture in fact is Sara.

Though it is true that in different climates, colours do come out a bit different, so some variance is possible.

Regards,

André Vreugdenhil

Royal Van Zanten
André Vreugdenhil
Commercial Manager

Maybe yours will revert to the same as mine Shelley. We can informally say that it is the Far North Sara.

Shauna

I don't know, I was kind of hoping we would call it Princess Shauna ;)

But I guess to be official wed better keep the initial name, you know how some of us are so anal when it comes to names ;)

Sharon

Princess Shauna works for me! ;^)

Thanks for the info Shauna and I'll keep the name Sara with my records just in case I need it some day, ya just never know! ;^)

Ang

Ok, girls my order is here. 3 have little white sprouts and one has none. Not sure if the white things are roots and should be planted down or if they are flower stems and they should be planted up. Maybe just plant horizontally and they'll find their way up on their own . Any advise appreciated.

In answer to your question on what color pots to plant in and also why leaves and no flowers, I found this info:
"If the soil temperature rises too high (above about 22 degrees Celsius) the alstroemeria plant puts its effort into producing more large tuberous roots at the expense of flowering shoots. With some varieties this can lead to production of exclusively blind non flowering stems and no flowers. This is presumably a defence mechanism of the plant to store food and water in its roots in preparation for an impending drought.
This can be important for the gardener and is a good reason to use a mulch and to plant where the roots are in the shade. Pots or tubs can heat up much more quickly than the open ground so be careful to ensure that they don't spend all day in the full sun."

I have a few stems growing, and have read in earlier posts here about pulling the first stems off. They are growing quite slowly, only 5 shoots so far. How long should I keep pulling off stems, and should I fertilize now or later please.

Mine have been outside the last few weeks. I fertilize weekly.
I haven't pulled off any stems since I re potted mine.

Shelley

Definitely the time to stop pulling off stems. Just leave them for the rest of the year. I've also had mine out for a couple of weeks now. But, they seem to have stalled quite a bit this year, with this cooler spring. Once it warms up, they should just take right off.

Shauna

I'm so thrilled to find this thread! I worked in a garden in Big Sur, CA with the tall variety and fell in love. They are practically a weed there -- a glorious happy weed that just keeps on blooming! Now, I buy the cut flowers every two weeks at Trader Joes.

Just found and bought my first Princess version and am hoping to winter it over in Wisconsin. Your posts make me think I might be able to pull it off.

Oh dear .... I'm feeling the urge to go get another ....

Thank you, thank you!

Martha

A warm welcome to the FN forum, Martha. You should easily be able to overwinter them in Wisconsin. Which beauty did you get? And by all means, go and get another. (I'm such an enabler. Careful, there's quite a few of us on this forum. lol)

Shauna

Shauna, finally I'm getting some blooms!

Mine is more of a yellow than yours....maybe I'll get pink shades down the road too?

Sharon

You're right, Sharon. They are quite different, aren't they? But, maybe it's the climatic change between Wainwright and Edmonton? Yours look more like the picture of 'Sara' on the Princess® Lilies website.

My new 'Isabella' have just bloomed in the last few days, too. But, I'm still waiting for my 'Sara' pots to bloom. This year, they seem really, really slow. I think the cool spring has not been good for mine. Plus, I probably had them outside just a tad too early.

Enjoy the show they put on for us, everyone. Now that they're blooming, they should be pretty much non-stop for a couple of months, anyway.

Shauna

So, how many of you are bringing in your alstromeria in, to overwinter in the house?

Who is going to grow them as a houseplants?

Who is going to put them into the basement, discontinue watering them and bring them out in Feb/Mar to start again?

I have 2 (Oxana and Theresa) and will be growing them as houseplants in my sunroom for the winter. I tried the cold storage method last year and they dried out too much.

Brenda

Who is going to put them into the basement, discontinue watering them and bring them out in Feb/Mar to start again?
I'll be doing this method, I have 2 pots of 'Sara' stored in a dark cool room.

Sharon

Should the foliage be cut back before putting them in the basement or let die back please.

I cut mine back to about 6".

Last year, I let the frost take the green on the plants for the most part before I put them into my DM dark rumpus room. They never really stopped growing. This fall I divided some of mine for trades and will be trying to grow these in one gallon pots under lights. The others, I am going to do the same with as I did last fall.

Shelley

This is a wonderful thread. Thanks to all of you for the information on growing alstromeria. We have only enjoyed them as cut flowers until now, but we thought we would try to grow them next year. We live in Stevensville in western Montana which is probably USDA zone 4 and Sunset zone 1. We've had good success with dahlias although they must be dug up and stored over the winter. I had thought we could do the same with the alstromeria, but after reading all of your postings, it sounds like they must be treated more like geraniums here and kept in pots.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any growers in the US from whom to order the tubers. If anyone has found a US grower, I'd appreciate the name or the link.

Continued good luck with your beautiful plants.

Susan

Mine are still blooming their fool heads off in Wisconsin ... in November. Can we say "climate change?" We've had enough frost to kill back the zinnias and startle to nasturtiums, but it hasn't bothered the alstromeria. I can't stand to put them in the basement until they show some signs of distress. Should I just DO it???

woost2, I just brought my pots in last week, too, in "sunny" Edmonton. I just started to divide my big pots and repot them. They've started sprouting again since I brought them in. That's a first for me. Anyway, I've received Shelley's trades and am dividing up a trade for her. I've just got into my first big pot of 'Isabella' and easily got a big piece for you, Shelley. The balance, I have divided into 4 pieces and will now spread around the pot.

I didn't divide either of my 'Isabella' pots when I bought them last spring. I just transplanted them. They are in slightly large patio pots (16" tapering up to 18" ) than my 'Sara's' and at least this first one doesn't seem to be quite as prolific a root system. But, it still has quadrupled in size since the spring. If the second pot is the same, I won't be doing any more trades on them this year, unfortunately. There should be ample though for next year. Seems to me that 'Sara' needed two seasons, too, before I had so much excess. I'll let you know tonight or tomorrow how much 'Sara' there is. Silly me. I forgot to bring my potting soil in last night and it's frozen solid already. It'll be tonight at the earliest that I can pot them up and I've got the four big pots and Shelley's 3 to do. Wow, getting to be a big job but definitely a worthwhile one.

I'm thinking of doing a mixed pot and seeing what results. This year, I'll just do 'Sara' and 'Isabella' together. Whatcha think? Next year, hopefully, I'll do a pot of 'Sara', 'Isabella, 'Stephanie', 'Oxana' and 'Zavina'. Might look like a very pretty dog's breakfast though.

Shauna

OK... I put my large pot of Sara in a dark corner of the basement and ignored it until now. I have one smaller pot I've kept under lights as well.

The big one is putting up the ghosty sprouts. I yanked them all until yesterday and have now put the pot out where it gets a bit of window light and some castoff from the tube lights. I can put it on the table under the full lights, but figured I'd easy it into the light.

I'm wondering if I should pot it up, repot it in the same pot (which is big and heavy as I want to carry up and down the basement steps) or leave it another year? Assuming it actually survives ...

The little one I will pot up. I bought it late in the season and never got around to repotting it. Bad me.

I have repotted mine in the spring. Or about now. I always think that the new dirt will make them bloom better.

Shelley

Totally agree, Shelley. I would pot it up now and divide them a bit. That always helps, too. If you've got a big pot that produced well the summer before, you should have lots to divide to spread around the pot. Be prepared to do up another big pot's worth.

Shauna

I finally finished re potting all of mine and then hauled the last lot to my mothers house. (She's gone...off to Kelowna for the winter again). The ones that I replanted a couple weeks ago look great already.
Out of all the ones that I have...Sara seems to be the slowest. No extra divisions were taken off that one this year.

I also did like you were planning on doing Shauna. I did up a mixed smaller pot of Oxanna and Zavina. I'm kind of anxious to see how it looks.

Shelley

I haven't had any luck with the nurseries around here in getting any. They tell me they don't carry them because they stop flowering here once it gets too hot. Maybe the humidy has something to do with it. I told her I'd take my chances if I could get some, but that didn't help either, their suppliers don't offer them she said. What time of the year do the nurseries in your area carry them potted up? Wonder how much the shipping would be for one potted and in bloom already. My Calgary daughter is probably coming home the 2nd week of March. Probably too early to have them out yet. Going in hospital Feb 20th (4 more sleeps) for my hip replacement. Would be a nice get well surprise, don't you think?

Does NB get hotter than Wisconsin? My first attempt did terrific in full southern sun in Madison. I had it in a large, heavy clay pot and it bloomed its fool head off until I finally brought it in, mid-November. The first place I ever saw these short varieties for sale was in Rochester, Minnesota at a grocery store! It gets hot and humid there, too. I had just come from a visit to Big Sur, CA where I had fallen in love with the taller variety (they are virtually weeds in Big Sur) and was so surprised to see them.

I have to say that mine enjoy the heat. I have them in full sun all day in a protected part of the yard. Last year it turned cooler and rainy for the latter part of the summer. They slowed down during time.
They sell like hot cakes locally here. If you do not grab.. then they are gone.
They might have been looking for an excuse to not carry them.

Shelley

I've tried emailing a couple of the Calgary Garden Centres over the weekend, but no responses yet. My daughter said she'd check areas for me, but she was moving again on the weedend, and probably hasn't had time yet. Well tomorrow's the day. Probably won't be posting for a bit. Maybe I'll have a nice surprise when she comes home 2nd week of March.

Good luck, bloomorelse. My sister-in-law is getting her hip done this spring as well - she's been walking with no hip joint (congenital) for 55 years, and it's really starting to slow down her gardening. Hopefully you'll both be back on your feet and back in the garden in time to enjoy the summer.
Connie

Thanks Connie. I've only heard good things of people who've had it done. May not be able to move established plants around this summer, but I should be able to get down to weed and plant with a small shovel. The key is to do the exercises and a lot of walking once I feel a little better.

Hope to be back here dreaming of Spring soon.

Joan

Has anyone ever tried these from seeds? I added some to my most recent seed order to try them out. The germination method sounds a little tricky, warm, cold, and warm again.

I've got blooms! My first attempt at wintering over in the basement seems to have worked. I put one in a dark corner and kept a second under lights. They appear identical in their growth and flowering at the moment. I did pot up the one under lights (it was in its original nursery pot) but not the one in the dark. Will try dividing this fall, should we survive the summer.

We've had an oddball spring for southern Wisconsin. No real heat and nights in the 30s even this week. Temps not bothering the Alstros. But germination is the pits in the veggie garden.

To all of you Alstro fanatics - I LOVED all the info on this thread. I'm just getting ready to overwinter my first plants. Are they happier divided in Fall before allowing to dry and rest or in early Spring when you wake them up? And have any of you tried cross pollinating varieties and growing from seed?

I tried seed and not a single sprout.