**This is all interesting because I've grown Alstroemeria in my last garden (Central Coast of CA), and we brought some with us on our move North, and so we grow them here now (North CA Coast). They grow like weeds here (and there). I have the common hybrid kinds one finds in garden centers, and I have the low ones which aren't as hardy as the tall ones, and I have A. psitticina in both solid green leafed and the variegated leafed forms. The solid green leafed one is more hearty. The tall ones get lanky, but they grow in both sun and shade here, and I don't fertilize them particularly. Mostly I ignore them. Occasionally a gopher or mole will run though a clump, but usually some roots survive. (Now watch a Alstroemeria-loving rodent get all of mine.) The soil in our last garden was adobe clay on top of hard pan. Here we also have clay, with rocks below. The lower growing Alstroemerias are bothered by slugs and snails, but they flower in the ground and in half barrels. I love them all because you can pick the flowers and they last for weeks. And they don't seem to be bothered by frost. We had days of 27F in March, which is late for us, and they didn't seem to be affected. The stems die down, and if I'm in the mood I pull the stem off after flowering, as recommended (rather than cut the stems down). If I don't have time, the leaves and stems die down and leave a good mulch for the clumps. I brought up some mixed in the pots of roses when we moved, and I planted everything and occasionally a clump of Alstroemeria will show up. When I try to dig them, they're too deep and too close to the rose, so I succeed in massacring them; sometimes they show up again and sometimes they don't. It's hard to get pieces to share because one has to make sure a little piece of the growing point is included. I've had friends dig up plain old roots to share, thinking they'll grow plants, They don't. I'll try to add some photos of mine later tonight or tomorrow on the hybrid page. Mine are unnamed. Pretty things. s. >On the topic of Alstroemeria, I've planted out a number of ones that Roy >Sachs gave me in my garden. They come back and spread, but do not bloom so >this may be worse than having them die in a cold climate. I believe we >discussed this on another forum and if I remember the conclusion was they >needed better soil (or fertilization) than they can get in my garden. I >have one exception and that is one that resurrected from some tubers I >tossed and thought I had disposed of. In this one spot of my garden for a >number of years now I have a lot of blooms for months and months. They are >also spreading too much in this spot, but the flowers are so pretty I hate >to disturb them. > >Mary Sue >Dear Mary Sue; > I do not even vaguely pretend any knowledge about growing >these things, but I have found this cultivation guide thought >provoking... even if I don't follow it to the word. > http://roskam-youngplants.com/Alstroemeria_Cultiva… -- susan hayek, North Coast of CA, USA, zone 9b, Sunset zone 17. 15 miles south of Eureka, CA, overlooking the Eel River, with a peek of the ocean.