There are certain plants which, for reasons that are not always readily explicable, capture our own personal imaginations. The Alstroemeria or Peruvian lily is one such plant that I have wanted to put in our garden. Indian Summer has dark green, virtually purple leaves and an exquisite orange flowers with delicate brown markings. I envisage it growing alongside some of our agapanthus and irises, the blues and oranges potentially combining to stunning effect.
It is supposed to be suited to growing in a container, which I duly tried last year, with a view to putting into its permanent home this season. Sadly, I was without success. I suspect the harsh damp winter proved to be too much for a still young plant and by March there was clearly no sign of any Alstoemeria to be found.
I resolved to try again.
Fortunately, I was helped by a generous donation of a sizeable division of an Alstromeria Indian Summer from a gardening buddy. He has successfully grown these plants for years and, being local, was able to offer encouraging advice. So last month I carefully planted my soon to be prize specimen into the ground (this time forgoing the first year in the container idea). It is now a question of fingers crossed. However, I was very careful to try and provide it with the best possible start and some of the best drainage my garden can offer. This I was assured would be the key. So I used the system of laying small drains directly below the planting holes, a technique I have used before when planting the lavender (Hidcote). I have shown this below.
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| the ingredients |
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| plastic drains laid on top of a base of grit |
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| the drains are wrapped in weed suppressing fleece to prevent the drainage holes clogging |
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| the finished planting, it will grow much bigger |
