Plant Encyclopedia

Other Names:  Peruvian Lily

Group/Class:  Inca Series

Description:

This impressive, hardy variety presents stunning bright yellow blooms with dramatic burgundy spots; mounded, crisp green foliage provides contrast; blooms last well as cut flowers

Ornamental Features

Inca Rio® Alstroemeria features showy bracted yellow trumpet-shaped flowers with burgundy spots at the ends of the stems from early to late summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its pointy leaves remain dark green in colour with hints of bluish-green throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Inca Rio® Alstroemeria is an herbaceous annual with a mounded form. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and usually looks its best without pruning, although it will tolerate pruning. It is a good choice for attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Inca Rio® Alstroemeria is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Inca Rio® Alstroemeria will grow to be about 8 inches tall at maturity extending to 12 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 16 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 14 inches apart. Although it's not a true annual, this plant can be expected to behave as an annual in our climate if left outdoors over the winter, usually needing replacement the following year. As such, gardeners should take into consideration that it will perform differently than it would in its native habitat.

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. To help this plant achive its best flowering performance, periodically apply a flower-boosting fertilizer from early spring through into the active growing season. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider covering it with a thick layer of mulch in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.

Inca Rio® Alstroemeria is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers against which the thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.