Alstroemeria Duc d'Anjou Pierre

The Astroemeria 'Duc d'Anjou Pierre' is part of a series of hybrid Inca lilies that includes several medium-sized, hardy and floriferous varieties, with various colours, particularly suited for ornamental beds. This 'Pierre' selection is adorned with beautiful pink flowers touched with green at the tip, striped with brown and spotted with yellow. An exotic flowering that renews itself from late spring to late autumn. This variety can withstand winter in open ground in most of our regions, under a mulch that will protect the stumps from cold and excessive humidity. Its flowers are also very long-lasting in a vase.

The Alstroemeria Duke Pierre is a recent horticultural variety, selected near Angers. All modern Inca lilies are hybrids of several tuberous species native to South America, especially the Chilean Andes. These high-altitude plants belonging to the amaryllidaceae family are more or less hardy, appreciate fresh, well-drained soils in a light and cool wooded area. Slow to establish, they can disappear or ... become invasive! Quirky and fantastic plants, very sensitive to growing conditions, they are "indestructible" when you find the right spot for them.

'Duc d'Anjou Pierre', like all plants in the series, withstands short frosts of around -15 °C in a very well-drained soil and under mulch. The plant quickly forms dense clumps of  leafy stems 50 cm tall when flowering, with a spread of 40 cm. Flowering occurs from June to October. The flowers are gathered in terminal umbels. They consist of 3 narrow central petals in a pink colour striped with brown, two of which have a bright yellow spot, surrounded by 3 wider petals, medium pink, touched with green along the edge. The foliage is arranged on the upper part of the stems. The leaves of this variety are dark green slightly bluish. The plant disappears in winter, only the trailing stump with fleshy roots remains underground. The stump is sensitive to the shock of transplantation, especially in older plants.

The Alstroemeria 'Duc d'Anjou Pierre' thrives in beds, where the plant forms a magnificent and very flowery bouquet for weeks. Place it in small groups among grasses, daylilies, guara or helenium for example. It can also be paired with other varieties of Duc d'Anjou Inca lilies, and planted at its feet; blue lobelias or Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, with intensely blue flowers and red foliage in October. Its exotic flowers last for several days in a vase, up to 3 weeks provided you change the water every week, regularly remove any leaves that have fallen into the water, and trim the base of the stems.