These are my Princess Lilies which are flowering at the moment. I am still coaxing some to produce more than one flower stalk (and there are two with no photographable flowers at all) but they look pretty impressive here in a strategically constructed collage.
I absolutely adore Alstroemerias, so for several years I have given myself an advanced Dwarf Alstroemeria (Princess Lily) for my birthday which is in November. Each plant had one beautiful flush of flowers that had set in the nursery then faded away and ended up in plant heaven, despite the promises of copious flowers over a long period on the label.
But last year I learned that they do not like being buried too deeply as they shoot directly from their underground rhizomes, rather than shooting from stems above ground.
So I bought a set of little Princess plants online, at an end of season sale....and having been careful not to bury them too deep (the temptation to compost or mulch over the top is great but I am sticking to the rule) they have survived to this year and are bigger than when they arrived in little tubes wrapped in a parcel, if not as big as I'd like.
Because their growth comes from the rhizomes just below ground, the temperature of their soil and roots is important, so choose their postion and mulch carefully. If the soil gets too hot the plant may produce many blind shoots without flowers, or become dormant altogether. Once the weather cools in Autumn they should start to produce flowers again.
Ramms Botanicals who market Princess Lilies in Australia have an information sheet at http://www.ramm.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Alstroemeria-Princess-Lilies7.pdf
and there is another at the Garden Express Site where I bought mine -http://www.gardenexpress.com.au/alstroemeria-growing-notes.html
Each Princess has her own name, and I have Fabiana, Oxana, Camilla, Theresa and Letizia.
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