A RAINBOW OF ALSTROEMERIA AT MELLANO & COMPANY

March 22, 2012

As one of our most popular cut flowers here at Mellano & Company, Alstroemeria are ornamental flowers that resemble miniature lilies. With a plethora of showy hybrids, and thus a diverse array of different markings and colors—ranging from white to purple, orange to apricot, pink to lavender and many, many others— Alstros are becoming more and more popular. Today they are often used in bouquets and flower arrangements in the commercial cut flower trade.

Elegant Alstroemeria: “Rebecca”

Mellano & Company is proudly recognized as the largest grower of Alstroemeria in the U.S. However, by comparison to the South American harvests, especially those in Chile and Brazil, ours is a mere drop in the bucket. But what makes us stand apart is the way we grow our Alstros, different than down in South America and different than in other U.S. locations where the flowers are grown under the cover of shade cloth or plastic. Instead, through 30-plus years of varietal selection, we’ve learned to grow our Alstros completely outdoors. The higher light intensity results in stem and flower quality par excellence! It’s every bit worth the slight risk of damage from our occasional hot Santa Ana winds or the rare hailstorm. Alstroemeria prefer cool temperatures with many varieties going dormant in the summer. So while we pick this crop year-round, we do experience peaks and valleys in production. Our biggest harvest typically occurs in April.

Over 60 Color Varieties!

With Alstros increased popularity at retail, as evidenced by the growing demand in the commercial trade, Mellano & Company has increased our plantings to over 25 main varieties-with 60 different color varieties! Beyond that, as an added service to our customers, our sales department recently implemented a new labeling program that allows for customers to be more precise in selecting the colors or bi-colors they desire. Now customers can select from a broader spectrum of a given color. Take the color yellow, for example; today you can select from egg-yolk yellow, lemon yellow, golden yellow, yellow with dark spots, yellow with a white throat, etc. You get the idea. That way your 32”, 10-stem bunch will be the exact color you want. It’s just another way we at Mellano & Company are bringing more value to our customers’ experience.