PUSHING THE BORDERS

This started producing a flower spike back in the warm weather but stopped when the weather broke. I had given up on it for the year until the weekend when it suddenly got going again.
Worth the wait in my opinion...................

great photos and flower.

Thanks Chris! Rather pleased with it really.

I'm not a huge fan of the bearded Iris, but on the whole the Iridaceae family have some great plants to offer.

Great to see these mentioned. Dietes is a fascinating, small genus of irids and where the climate is cool enough to prevent them becoming weedy, but mild enough to enable them to do well, they make splendid garden plants. There's some confusion between the white species esp. D. iridioides and D. grandiflora on account of their superficial similarity. The former has lilac to almost pale purple markings and grows to around 1m high when in full flower. The latter is a taller grower with larger, more rounded flowers marked violet and with fine, brownish spots at the base of the tepals on taller stems to 1.5m or more. It also has longer lasting flowers (2 - 4 days vs. 1 day only for D. iridiodes). That is not to say one is any better than the other and they often have a wonderful tendency to flower off the same stem over several seasons. Never cut the flowered stems unless they have dried out and are lifeless; my grandiflora currently has a couple of stems that have flowered for 3 years!

Dietes grandiflora


I also grow D. bicolor (creamy yellow with dark, brownish-maroon central blotches) and the spectacular D. robinsoniana ( 2m in flower, very large, paper-white flowers arising from impressive clumps of glaucous, phormium like leaves). Sadly, being a native of Lord Howe Island, the latter is far too tender for it to be recommended for any but the mildest of gardens, nevertheless makes a very handsome container plant that for bringing in to a frost free place in winter. Mine seems to be doing well close to the house wall, where it came through the past 2 winters without any problems.

Dietes robinsoniana


Needless to say I love this group of plants - they have pleasant (to boldly impressive, species-dependent) evergreen foliage and irrespective of their short flower lives, their grace and charm is repeated over many months. Some flowering plants are obviously Mediterranean in appearance and need to be planted appropriately. Others only look good in tropical or Asiatic styled settings. Dietes seem to fit in wherever you plant them!

Dave - thanks for the info about the stems. I had no idea.

D.robinsoniana looks really interesting!

LONGK wrote:Dave - thanks for the info about the stems. I had no idea.
D.robinsoniana looks really interesting!

Oh it is! It's commonly know as the 'bridal/wedding lily' and although the flowers only last a day, they pop open over a long period. I was hoping that mine would set seed this year, but although a few pods formed, no seeds developed inside. It's a very handsome plant with or without flowers - the foliage is very stiff and broad compared to the other species and a pleasing silvery green. D. robinsoniana is quite a mystery - the other species are native to S. Africa, but this one is only found many thousands of miles further east on Lord Howe Island. Just how it got there has caused a deal of head scratching for many years.

It is the least hardy of the genus and really does need protection in most of the UK. Unfortunately it is a very rare plant in Europe and the UK although quite widely grown as an ornamental in Australia and New Zealand. I've had seed sent to me several times, but none germinated - no doubt it needs to be fresh. After several years searching, I finally managed to acquire a piece from a clump growing Portugal and happily it grew away like the blazes. Last summer's cool wet weather suited it well and it quadrupled in size over a 3 month period. This year's heat caused a fair amount of scorch, but at least it threw a flower spike.

DaveP wrote: I've had seed sent to me several times, but none germinated - no doubt it needs to be fresh.

I have some Diplarrena seeds and it's recommended that they be treated with potassium nitrate - maybe it would have helped?