The Mailorder Gardening Association presented its Green Thumb Awards earlier this year.

Mauve Majesty, a new patented alstroemeria, is one of the first cultivars in its color class to be hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 6 and often to Zone 5. Developed by horticulture professor Mark Bridgen at Cornell University, this Inca lily is a non-fragrant perennial that produces lavender-lilac flowers with dark speckling and a creamy-yellow throat held on strong, upright flower stems. In greenhouses, the plant never goes dormant and grows year-round.

This hybrid is the first ornamental plant patented by Cornell. It took five years for Bridgen to develop the cultivar. Bridgen is working on more colors, including orange shades, and flowers that are very fragrant. He said alstroemeria is the fifth most popular cut flower in the United States.

Bridgen was awarded the 2008 Herbert Medal from the International Bulb Society for meritorious achievement in advancing knowledge of bulbous plants.

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For more: Mark Bridgen, Cornell University, Long Island Horticulture Research and Education Center, Department of Horticulture, (631) 727-3595; mpb27@cornell.edu.

April 2008