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Products > Alstroemeria 'Christina' PP15,048   Alstroemeria 'Christina' PP15,048 - Little Miss Christina Peruvian Lily      Habit and Cultural Information Category: Perennial Family: Alstroemeriaceae (~Liliaceae) Origin: Peru (South America) Flower Color: Cream Bloomtime: Spring/Summer Height: <1 foot Width: Clumping Exposure: Cool Sun/Light Shade Irrigation (H2O Info): Medium Water Needs Winter Hardiness: 15-20° F Alstroemeria 'Christina' PP15,048 (Little Miss Christina Peruvian Lily) - A dwarf variety with 6 inch tall spikes of cream colored flowers in late spring and early summer with tepals marked with splashes of pink and inner petals with maroon spotted yellow markings near the base. Plants have a crown of slender rhizomes that attach to succulent storage roots below. Each year new unbranched shoots arise from the crown to produce narrow leaves along the stem and an umbel of flowers at the tip. Plant in full sun to light shade and water regularly to occasionally in late spring and early summer. Tolerates fairly dry conditions in coastal gardens but vigor and flowering is best when plants are irrigated. Hardy to 15-20° F but tolerates lower temperatures if well mulched. When trimming or cutting Alstroemeria for flowers it is best to pull the stems out so they break off below grown at the crown to stimulate the formation of new shoots but do so carefully so not to put out pieces of the rhizome itself. This plant was hybridized by Robert Adrian Goemans at Chichester in Sussex, England. The male parent is an unnamed dwarf Butterfly type cultivar and the seed parent was an unnamed Alstroemeria aurea selection. Christina was selected from the resulting seedlings in 1997. It received U.S. Plant Patent PP15,048 on July 27, 2004 and is marked under the name Little Miss Christina. The genus Alstroemeria (at times spelled Alstremeria) was named by Carl Linnaeus, often called the Father of Taxonomy, for his friend and student Klaus von Alstroemer (Clas Alströmer), a Swedish baron. Alstroemeria come from two areas within South America with summer growing species restricted to eastern Brazil and winter-growing plants from central Chile with common names such as Peruvian Lily, Parrot Lily, or Lily of the Incas.  The description above is based on our research and observations of this plant growing in our nursery and in our own and other Santa Barbara gardens. We would appreciate hearing from anyone who has additional information or disagrees with what we have written.