Newswise — Imagine fruit-salad for the eyes: Alstroemeria Tangerine Tango, a new, winter-hardy Inca lily with vivid orange petals, intense lemon yellow highlights, little flecks of nut brown and a hint of lime tint. The plants begin to flower in June, enjoy kissing the summer sun and shoot new stems for months until the first freeze of fall.
When cut, these flowers will last two weeks in a vase.
Developed by Mark Bridgen, Cornell professor of horticulture and director of the Cornell’s Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center in Riverhead, N.Y., the hybrid is the second ornamental plant patented by the Cornell Center for Technology Enterprise and Commercialization. The first was Mauve Majesty – another Inca Lily – two years ago.
Tangerine Tango is hardy in many parts of the United States, and it can survive cold temperatures as those in Zone 5 (which includes western Massachusetts, mid-state New York, northern Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, much of Michigan, southern Iowa and Nebraska, northern Missouri and Kansas and eastern Colorado).
In fact, this flower will do very well almost anywhere in the United States, says Bridgen.
Alstroemeria flowers, native to South America, are the fifth most popular cut flower in the United States, according to Bridgen. “The flowers are perfect for hotel lobbies and fancy restaurants because they don’t wilt for up to two weeks,” he says.
This flower took eight years to develop and is now available commercially through nurseries and mail order companies, such as:White Flower Farm, Richfield, Conn., www.whiteflowerfarm.comBrent and Becky’s Bulbs, Gloucester, Va., www.brentandbeckysbulbs.comMcClure and Zimmerman Bulbs, Friesland, Wisc., http://www.mzbulb.com/Roots and Rhizomes, Randolph, Wisc., http://www.rootsrhizomes.com
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