|
Alstroemeria 'Sophie' (Little Miss Sophie Peruvian Lily) - A dwarf variety with 6-inch-tall spikes of large open-structured flowers in late spring and early summer that appear bicolored with outer tepals that are white with a broad pink central band and sepals similarly marked, with maroon, spotted yellow towards the base – very showy. 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 the best when plants are irrigated. Hardy to 15-20 degrees F but tolerates lower temperatures if mulched. When trimming or cutting Alstroemeria for flowers it is best to pull the stems straight up and out, so they break off below ground at the crown to stimulate the formation of new shoots but do so carefully so not to pull 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 cultivar from a cross between Alstroemeria aurea 'Lutea' and Alstroemeria pelegrina 'Alba'. 'Sophie' was selected from the resulting seedlings in 1998. It received U.S. Plant Patent PP14,311 that was filed on March 15, 2002 and it has since expired. It is marketed under the name 'Little Miss Sophie'.
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. We grew this nice small cultivar from 2009 until 2015.
The information about Alstroemeria 'Sophie' displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |
