Growing Peruvian Lilies

These red Peruvian lilies just started to bloom in my inside winter garden. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

“Seriously. Did you grow those red Peruvian Lilies ….inside??’ — Evelyn

Growing Peruvian Lilies

Hi Evelyn, absolutely! Once I found out Peruvian lilies are one of the longer, if not longest-lasting cut flowers, I plotted to add some to my inside winter garden. That’s basically my living and dining rooms turned over to tropical plants that can’t make it outside through mid-Missouri’s cold winters.

For many years I have wintered over inside tropical hibiscus, geraniums, salvia and herbs. With a little care not to forget to water them, and to provide moisture when they need it, these plants have successfully moved in and out of my house through many seasons. There is something quite nice about having a tropical jungle inside when it is cold and snowy outside.

It’s also handy to have stalwart bloomers. The red begonias in particular take a little breather when they first come inside and then pick up where they left off at the end of summer, giving me a nice flush of flowers all through winter.

Peruvian lilies (Alstroemeria spp) are used as bouquet fillers, sometimes sold as a bouquet all by themselves. I gave some to an office colleague several years ago and, after 6 weeks, she asked when the flowers were planning to die. That put them on my “I must grow some myself list” thinking of long, cold, snowy winters warmed up by a bouquet of long-lasting cut flowers.

There’s science, you know. Not that I had any doubt but there are studies that show having cut flowers lift spirits and contribute to a happier environment, which may explain why we send flower bouquets to people in hospitals and who need cheering up.

So this spring, when I spotted several Peruvian lilies growing in pots at one of our local garden centers, the stalking began. One pot of Peruvian lilies retailed for $25 so I decided to wait until the price came down. My gardening buddy Tom was also asked to patrol the sales; he would intermittently report when he saw a price reduction.

Finally late summer all of the red ones were marked down to $3 each and I took two plants home.

Potted Peruvian lilies spending winter in a sunny window. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

They were repotted into larger pots with compost at the bottom and are now in a sunny window. I will monitor the temperature to make sure it stays over 60F in their window spot and provide watered down fertilizer once a month.

I just cut a little sprig of blooms off and added them to some yellow mums and the last of my miniature yellow roses. It was snowing outside as I snipped the mums, the last ones to be blooming in my garden this year.

Now the race is on to see which ones will last the longest, mums are also long-lasting cut flowers. What do you think, which ones will last the longest in a vase?

Charlotte