Parrot Lily, Parrot Flower, Peruvian Lily, Lily of the Incas 'Premier Series'

Parrot Lily, Parrot Flower, Peruvian Lily, Lily of the Incas 'Premier Series'
Alstroemeria

A beautiful bloom that stays open a long time. When used as a cut flower, it lasts a very long time as well. Shown in March. (San Antonio, Tx.)

Beautiful photo and plant. Have you seen the Mona Lisa Alstroemeria?

Oh boy, I can't wait for mine to bloom! Of course, it probably won't be this year. Beautiful markings on the petals.

windsurfer, thanks. I have only seen 'Mona Lisa' in photos. It is outstanding with its deep purple-red, yellow and green. I can see why they call it the parrot lily. I had some dwarf lillies that said that they were parrot lillies, but they were orange, yellow and green. There was no botanical name on the tag. Unfortunately, they went dormant and never came back. Thanks for your comments.

Susan, I have another photo to post of a different colored Peruvian lily that is blooming. I think that yours may be the pink, white and yellow one because it is not blooming. If it survives, it will bloom this year. They bloom on and off from now until the fall for me.

http://plantsdatabase.com/showpicture/27229/

Thanks for your comments.


This message was edited Monday, Mar 22nd 7:26 AM

The Mona Lisa I have seen looks like this one but since it's in Australia I can't get it here. If you will notice it has little purple tips and that is what makes me want it even more.

This message was edited Mar 21, 2004 7:29 PM

FYI 'Mona Lisa' is listed as available at McClure & Zimmerman

https://www.mzbulb.com/mzsite/mzsiteviewproduct.aspx?ProductID=8806

Sorry hyperlink did not work, guess it is the https:// part you can use http://www.mzbulb.com and search for mona

This message was edited Mar 21, 2004 8:01 PM

Well thanks for the link but I can't see any of the photos there even after signing up?

I goofed. The lily I saw listed as 'Mona Lisa' was on this page (British company). It is listed with the Alstroemeria hybrids, but is an Alstroemeria psittacina (pulchella). Sorry. Here's the link.

http://www.postalplants.co.uk/showplants.asp?species=Alstroemeria&name=latinname&alpha=A

The 'Mona Lisa' at the bulb source PotEmUp posted is the
Alstroemeria psittacina also because it is described as being "Large clusters of deep ruby-red trumpets rimmed with apple green, heavily veined and speckled in the creamy-white throat. 30 to 36 inches ".

I have been attempting to locate one like you show with the purple tips and have not found one so far. I will keep looking.

I located your plant with photos at several Australian and New Zealand sites. It is considered an "older" variety. Finally, I found it here, but it is the autumn catalogue. Pull down the page and it is listed with a price. (no picture, but its description sounds like it):

http://www.lambley.com.au/Printable%20Catalogue.htm

Here's the company's main page:

http://www.lambley.com.au/


This message was edited Mar 22, 2004 8:04 AM

Htop they did say that the Alstroemeria psittacina (pulchella) was the Mona Lisa in your first link. It's kind of funny that you can find a lot of different Mona Lisa's on different websites, kind of makes you wonder who's right?

Little Miss Rosanna looks more like the Mona Lisa in the photo I posted.
They are all very lovely and I would love to have them all.
Thank you for taking the time to help me find it.

Here is another link to check the photo out. there is an
Alstroemeria hybrid 'Mona Lisa' which I find mentioned on many sites outside of the United States, but not many photos. Here's a link with a photo.

http://www.vogelvry.com.au/springflowers/alstroemeria.html

Then, there is the Alstroemeria psittacina(pulchella) 'Mona Lisa' a different plant.

This is quite confusing. I think that the Alstroemeria hybrid 'Mona Lisa' is very hard to find because it is an "older" variety and many new ones have been developed. It is mentioned on some websites as "an older favorite variety".

It must be because I can't find it here in the states. The ones they calling Mona Lisa is so different form the one in the photos that you and I posted above.

I guess I won't be getting one this spring unless I happen to find someone here that has one and willing to trade or sell a bulb....Oh well I guess I'll just have to keep drooling.

I think I saw a couple of places here in the states that have bulbs available when I was searching this for you. I was mainly looking for photos to be sure that the name was correct. When I have time, I will go back through the search and see if I can find them for you. I will make sure that they are the correct variety.

Susan, I posted the reddish colored Peruvian lily. Did you see it? Yours could be this one.

Thank you, I really appreciate your help.

Yes, I saw it! All of them are very pretty, so I don't care what color I received. I am keeping it in a pot so that I can lift it for the winters, so if the color clashes, it will be easy to relocate elsewhere. I still have a loose bag over the pieces, they have yellowed somewhat and looks like they will drop some leaves, but the wilting stopped as soon as I replaced the bag.
Looks like my firespike and plectranthus are taking off with new growth...must have pretty good roots by now. The woody stuff will take longer, of course. It is so much fun having new plants to learn about and grow. Guess I get bored with the old ones. Thanks again for sending all of them.
I ordered an alstroemeria psittacina from the Sunfarm coop...how is it different from the hybrids? You seem to infer something in the above conversations...I will have to take the time to look it up in more detail.
Susan

Susan, I think I had one of the alstroemeria psittacina at one time, but it died. I think that the blooms do not open as widely and they do not grow as tall as the hybrids do. As I recall, the petals do not separate as much and they may have more blooms per stalk. I have no photos of them. But, their blooms are beautiful as well. I think it is hardy to at least Zone 5 and because it is a species the seeds come true.

'Sweet Laura' hybrid is the only one that is hardy to Zone 5 and is the only one commercially available that has a fragrance.Do not keep the soil too moist. The leaves will turn yellow and drop due to transplant shock. Even if they all die off do not give up. It will probably sprout back up when you least expect it. Mine did this when I transplanted them.

I am happy to hear that the firespike and the plectranthus are doing well. The 'Mona Lavender' has become quite popular now for good reason. My favorite nursery had about a hundred in 4 inch pots (5 inch tall plants) and sold out of them in a week because they featured them as "Plant of the Week". The regular price on the 4 inch pots was $3.99! They dropped it to $1.99 for the weekend. They have a lot of them in hanging baskets $14.99. When I first bought mine about 3 years ago, I had a difficult time finding anything about it on the Internet. Now it is a featured plant, plant of the year, etc. It is so easily propagated from cuttings I find the prices the nurseries are asking for them a little steep.

edited for typing errors ...

This message was edited Wednesday, Mar 24th 8:01 AM

The plectranthus will probably become ubiquitous, as you say, but I was unable to find it anywhere here in my area last year. I remember when Persian Shield (Strobilanthes) came out...It seemed so special...then we finally all got kind of sick of it. But the 'Mona Lisa' seems so lovely in the pics, I think I will really like it. I am going to pull out the tray from the closet and check for roots today.

I called your plectranthus "Mona Lisa' in my post above. It is 'Mona Lavender'. I have found that it blooms best in filtered shade (dappled shade) or in morning sun with afternoon shade. In total shade, it will bloom and looks good, but does not bloom as prolifically. My big old dog ran into one of my large plants and broke off most of one side's branches ... I growled at him! He just wagged his big old tail.

Thanks for the cultivar correction...as I typed Mona Lisa I thought, there sure are a lot of things with this name, hah.
I have a cat to go with your dog...beautiful pure white male, extremely photogenic, have to admire him...but what a garden pest! Yesterday his big game was to pretend he was stalking and killing mice in the daffodils. They were flattened numerous times before I finally got him distracted into doing something else.

What a beautiful cat and a beautiful setting for the photo. This is a perfect picture of a near perfect cat, I bet. The sun is shining through his cute pink ears. He looks very relaxed as he takes a respite from his daily activities with the angel and the leprecaun. He is indeed photogenic. Thanks for sharing his photo. What a beautiful yard. Maybe someday my DH will setup the wiring for the shock collar I have for the big old dog around all my flowerbeds. Then, I can sink my plants back into the ground.

I finally was able to arrive back at your post. I emailed you the big old dog's photo as he "protects" me from the big, bad squirrels and the little, bad butterflies knocking over things as he does so. I have completed the first phase of his spring coat trimming. I guess I have trimmed about half of his winter coat off. I do it in stages because he has so much hair and I tire easily lately. I do complain, but he is a very sweet dog and I have discovered that he is not as dumb as I thought he was. He has been out-foxing me by pretending to be dumb so he can get by with more mischief without being scolded too much. He must have realized that I have been forgiving him for his destruction because I thought that he just didn't know any better.

You make me laugh, Hazel. Yes, dogs and cats are not as dumb as they make out to be. I got the picture of your dog...he is a good looking rascal, too. We used to have a big dog...favorite place to lay was in the flowerbeds, especially the newly planted ones! She also liked to pull clothes off the clothesline and strew them around the yard. (This was a long time ago, before the yard was too shady to have a clothesline.)

I had a part Spitz and part Alaskan husky that did something one summer I really found hard to believe. He would always stay by me as I gardened and intensely watched what I was doing. He loved to dig and lay in the flowerbeds for which I scolded him a few times. I made him his own "flowerbed" in which he would never dig nor lie. I even mulched it. He still didn't find it attractive. Then, I planted weeds in it and watered them. He still didn't like it. I put landscape timber around it ... that didn't work either. I gave up. Well, I planted 3 new rose bushes in a new flowerbed and he watched everything I did with his head in the way most of the time. When I came home from work, he had dug the rose bushes up and out of his way so he could have a comfy spot. Amazingly, he had tried to replant them! He dug holes and stuck the bushes in the holes as best he could and kicked dirt on them! I could not be mad at him. He had done his best thorns and all.

I have new respect for squirrels now because it just dawned on me that they keep Bernie, the big old dog, busy all day long so he doesn't have much time to dig!

Toxi how pretty is your cat!!!???!!! :)

Thanks, Purple Pansies.
We almost lost him to encephalitis this summer, but he has rebounded and is as healthy and beautiful as ever now.
I tried to email you back about the seeds you wanted (Firepinks). That was you, wasn't it? I got a message that your email was not valid. Then I tried to email you through DG and never heard back from you, so you must not have gotten my message. Anyway, I saved some seeds and will send them to you if you want....let me know in this thread or send me another email.
Susan