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Alstroemeria 'Tara' (Little Miss Tara Peruvian Lily) - A dwarf variety with 8 to 12 inch tall spikes of black striped reddish pink flowers with a yellow base that appear in late spring and early summer. 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 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.
The Little Miss Series of Alstroemeria comprises dwarf plants that were originally hybridized by Robert Adrian Goemans at Chichester in Sussex, England. Mr. Goemans selected this plant in 1997 from the results of hybridizing an unnamed selection from a breeding line named 'Aurea' with an unnamed dwarf Butterfly type cultivar. Though still relatively short, 'Tara' is considered to be the tallest of the Little Miss series. The Little Miss series is marketed in the U.S. by the Henry F. Michell Company. It received U.S. Plant Patent PP14,722 filed on March 15, 2002 and it has since expired.
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 Alstroemeria 'Tara' from 2004 until 2021 and a variegated sport of this plant called Alstroemeria Little Miss Zoe ['Zoe'] was later introduced and patented in 2019 and we have grown this variegated plant since 2020.
This information about Alstroemeria 'Tara' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate 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 that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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