Variegated Parrot Feather
Alstroemeria psittacina 'Variegata'
Height: 24 inches
Spacing: 18 inches
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: (annual)
Other Names: Royal Star Alstroemeria
Description:
This beautiful and intriguing variety presents stunning hot pink, red, white, and burgundy streaked blooms that are breathtaking; blooms last well as cut flowers
Ornamental Features
Variegated Parrot Feather features showy bracted hot pink trumpet-shaped flowers with white overtones, burgundy throats and burgundy stripes at the ends of the stems from mid spring to mid summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive crinkled pointy leaves remain light green in color with showy creamy white variegation and tinges of white throughout the season.
Landscape Attributes
Variegated Parrot Feather is an herbaceous annual with a rigidly upright and towering form. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.
This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and usually looks its best without pruning, although it will tolerate pruning. It is a good choice for attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Variegated Parrot Feather is recommended for the following landscape applications;
- Mass Planting
- General Garden Use
- Container Planting
Planting & Growing
Variegated Parrot Feather will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 24 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 18 inches apart. Although it's not a true annual, this plant can be expected to behave as an annual in our climate if left outdoors over the winter, usually needing replacement the following year. As such, gardeners should take into consideration that it will perform differently than it would in its native habitat.
This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.
Variegated Parrot Feather is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.
