Here's one for @Mutisia to get involved in!
Has anyone else here grown Bomarea? Quite closely related to Alstromeria some species are quite hardy.
The one that I grow is B.edulis (syn. B.hirtella) which is a fully hardy species. Although the flowers are not large they form impressive clusters which look good when emerging from a host shrub (I grow mine through a Philedelphius which blooms before the Bomarea.

Nice one!

All I can 'contribute' to this thread is that I managed to 'kill' one of our native bomareas years ago - it wasn't happy with the hot and dry climate where I live At that time I lived in the big city, in an apartment - guess being grown in a pot was not of any help either.

@Gerris2 - I would have thought that seed is fairly easily found over there. B.edulis should be hardy in your zone after a couple of years protection.

@Mutisia - you killed one! They grow well in pots here although this do dislike frequently drying out.

Yes, but one can't grow everything.

Gerris2 said:Yes, but one can't grow everything.

There's no harm in trying to grow everything though

I'm growing bomarea spp. right now! It's not warm enough to transition them outside yet, but hopefully soon - they're getting VERY TALL. No flowers yet (I don't expect any this year, they were 'hatched' in April 2016), but the leaves are so beautiful I don't care.

I've also got some of the non-vining b. distichifolia and it's darling. Gotten some flowers on that and they've charmed my socks right off.

Delightful enchanting flower color!

@Joolie - B.distichifolia is a new one on me and it looks like a gem.
The Alstroemeriaceae family is full of some real beauties. I have Astroemeria isabella "Fred Meyer" which has a striking similarity to Bomarea.................

@longk Oh, they're gorgeous! Reminds me of macleania pentaptera but with added adorable tiger lily stripes inside!

I'm thoroughly in love with the distichifolia - it only grows to a couple feet high, and like other bomarea will keep sending up new shoots. The flowers are tiny but very strong, and I think it would make an *excellent* houseplant. I'm definitely going to be harvesting seeds to start another round of these with the intention of keeping one as a houseplant and giving others away to spread the love. The four and a quarter that I have now (one of the plants put up a single shoot, then stopped, but it hasn't died) are all destined for feeding the hummingbirds. (Like most things in my yard!)

@Joolie - I would be thoroughly in love with the Distichifolia too. Good luck with the seeds.
Astroemeria isabella has really burst into life over the last week with about 10 or so shoots emerging including at least one flower bearing shoot (which are easily identified).

A little bit of thread resurrection but I came across this while looking up unrelated bomarea stuff and I remembered I just got a photo of my first bomarea vine bloom. As I mentioned earlier, I wasn't expecting any blooms so I'm thrilled.







Soon after this, it got a little fanboy:







That little hummingbird is sitting right in top of the bamboo sticks I use to give the vine support.