I've just read the pieces about Alstromeria and their hardiness and thought that I might some experience from the UK. I grow a fair number of species Alstromeria, mainly from John Watson collections. All of them are grown in deep pots in a cold greenhouse - late frosts in my part of the UK (most years the last one is around this point of the year) make it impossible to grow them outside. Normally they flower in mid spring, mostly April time. However, this year, a cold period early in the year penetrated the greenhouse protection and destroyed some of the top growth. As a result, they have been set back by a couple of months and are just coming into flower now. A. pulchra, A. patagonica, A gayan, A. pelegrina and A. magenta are all in flower today and more are breaking. The Bomarea suffered a similar fate and are also in the process of flowering today. Incidentally, someone asked last year for me to swap notes on Watson's collections. Sadly, I have lost the note, so I would welcome a reminder of who it was. Best regards, David Victor