Alstroemeria flowers attract attention with their bright unusual brushes, which have a wide variety of shades. This plant is a herbaceous perennial native to tropical forests in South America. In height, the plant can reach 1 meter. The flower attracts the attention of almost all flower growers with its unusual flowering: its flowers are collected in brushes - with an umbrella (on one of them there can be from 10 to 30 flowers). Their colors are the most diverse: yellow, red, pink, orange, white. Such flowers are ideal for cutting, they can be used as an additional decoration to the main bouquet, and by themselves they will look just great.
The plant is ideal for beginner gardeners, because it is completely unpretentious, the only condition is that alstroemeria must be carefully covered for the winter. Alstroemeria blooms from June, and the flowering period ends around mid-September.
Alstroemeria flower: cultivation, careThe plant feels great in bright places, but on particularly hot sunny days, alstroemeria needs to be covered to provide light partial shade.
With its watering, gardeners should be extremely careful, she does not tolerate waterlogging of the soil. In this state, the roots can begin to decay, and if high humidity in the earth will be present in the fall, then in winter the plant may simply die - freeze.
Alstroemeria flowers should be fed approximately 4 times per month with mineral fertilizers containing potassium before the start of the budding period. When the first buds begin to appear, it is necessary to exclude nitrogen from the composition of top dressing.
The plant propagates by seed and division of the bush. Alstroemeria flowers grown from seeds bloom only in the second year. In order for the flower to survive the winter well, young seedlings must be strong enough, so the seeds begin to be sown in early February.
Seeds are sown in moist soil, try to maintain a temperature of about 25 degrees. After 3 weeks, they are cleaned in the refrigerator, thus providing the temperature difference necessary for
seed germination . In a cool place, future flowers are kept for about a month. Then the temperature is increased to 20 degrees, naturally, plants are taken out of the refrigerator. And then it remains only to wait for the first shoots, well, and periodically water, of course. The first sprouts should appear within a month.
If you decide to transplant the plant to another place, you should definitely build a good drainage. Such flowers do not like soil with high acidity, but this can be corrected by neutralizing it with chalk.
Experienced gardeners advise digging a flower for the winter and, without shaking off the ground, clean the plant in a cool place (basement or cellar), and plant in the spring with the same lump. So you can protect the young plant from freezing. Older flowers do not dig up, but carefully cover using special materials.
The most common species is blooming orange flowers (see above photo of flowers) alstroemeria. Very low-growing varieties are very popular.
With proper care, Alstroemeria flowers are practically not affected by various diseases, and attacks of harmful insects do not bother them either.