something different in an alstroemeria

The Alstromeria isabellana that I brought home from Far Reaches Farm in Port Townsend, Washington, opened its first bloom in my garden in Southern California a couple days ago. Sean Hogan had pointed it out to me in a display garden at his wonderful nursery Cistus on Sauvie Island outside Portland, Oregon.


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From the Pacific Bulb Society website: “A lovely species with a distribution from eastern/southern Brazil to northeastern Argentina. It has striking convergence in flower morphology with many Central/South American plants like Phaedranassa and Fuchsia elegans…Seeds planted in the fall sprouted in February. Plants go dormant in winter and return in spring.”


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I’m feeling really optimistic about this one. Dancing Oaks Nursery’s description is very reassuring: “Exquisite pendulous flowers of orange, green and black on 2-3′ tall stems. Stiff narrow gray blue leaves. Slowly creates a colony.”

The emphasis on stiff leaves, medium height, and a slow-growing nature is mine, attributes I’m hoping will hold true in my zone 10 garden. My last encounter with an alstromeria, ‘The Third Harmonic,’ was a tempestuous, drama-laden affair that ended unhappily. (As unhappy as these encounters can end, as in complete eradication.) I wrote about ‘The Third Harmonic’ here and here. It’s way too soon to tell, but this A. isabellana may just be the easy-going, well-mannered alstroemeria I’ve been looking for. And who knew an alstroemeria could possess such grace, character, and that rarest of attributes often lacking in hybrids, subtlety?

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3 Responses to something different in an alstroemeria

  1. Deanne says:

    Love it! what a beauty. It will hopefully meet all your expectations!

  2. Cindy says:

    LOL, “The Third Harmonic” makes me think of the movie The Fifth Element — probably a good thing you banished it. This new alstroemeria looks very elegant and likely more worthy of addition to a home in your exotic gardens. I hope it flourishes for you! Cindy H.

  3. Denise says:

    @Deanne, it’d make more sense to post about new plants after I’ve grown them for a while, wouldn’t it? So excited about this one…
    @Cindy, what a great alstro TTH was. Same old mantra: Really need a bigger garden. (Fifth Element is such a guilty pleasure, isn’t it?)

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