PlantFiles: Lirio del Monte (Mountain Lily)
Alstroemeria exerens

This lovely Alstroemeria is endemic to the Chilean portion of the Andes Moutains (Metropolitan, VI and VII Regions), at altitudes beteween 1900 and 2700m above sea level. They are hardy to an equivalent to a USA zone 6b – could be even hardier, but I have no information that supports this. Their habitat is a gritty and rocky very well drained slightly humid soil and they love full sun. A. exserens can reach 30 to 45cm height and this species usually blooms from the second year on, improving the quality of the plant and the flowers in the next years. These Alstroemeria species benefit from fully decomposed manure fertilizing during autumn and you can lift the rhizomes/fleshy roots (carefully, they are very brittle) to split them and reproduce your plants every 3 years.

Propagation from seeds: during autumn, in a mix of equal parts of compost, vermiculite and sharp river sand. Cover this mixture with a fine layer of sand, distribute your seeds and barely cover them with some more sand. Place your sowing pan either in a cold frame or a cold greenhouse if you have heavy rains in your area, and take them out to be covered by the snow if that’s your case. The seedlings will sprout during spring and can be transplanted once they are 3cm tall (little over 1”) using the same soil mixture. All 3 can be planted as well in the garden as in containers. A. exserens can be used as cut flower.

The colour of the flowers can vary from almost white to many shades of pink and to sligtly lilac.