Your information was just what I needed! This can be done at any time of the year. Stiff stalks carry iris-like flowers with pale violet inner petals and white outer petals spotted in white. Gardening Question From Molly: Hello! Amend the soil by digging in a 4-inch layer of fresh compost. Question from Karen: Dietes vegeta 'Variegata', Dietes iridioides, Moraea iridioides Variegated Fortnight Lily, African Iris, Wild Iris An evergreen perennial that forms neat clumps of flat, sword-shaped leaves with creamy white variegation. The upright clumps of leaves are held in a vertical fanlike plane and they spread on creeping rhizomes which sometimes ascend a ⦠Blooms occur in waves at intervals of approximately two weeks, hence the name. This will give the plant a chance to renew itself. It was, still, slightly difficult. I am trying to do it as organically as possible. It is one of the best all-purpose plants for beds and borders, where it functions a lot like an Iris, but with a much longer bloom period. For more information please watch the video. Design Ideas The flowers of Fortnight Lily glow in the dark and look exotic in tropical gardens--despite the plant's tolerance of a hard frost. When white dietes (D. iridioides, D. vegeta) have finshed blooming, remove all the seedpods but leave the stems in place. The dead stems should be cut off at their bases. Clumps will live for many years and look best with regular irrigation, but can survive with little irrigation once established. I have bough an organic potting soil but would like to… Not only are the clumps huge but some of the leaves have gotten brown and messy-looking with dead foliage and debris mixed in with fresh growth. Throw away the old messy center and keep several good divisions. The long, branching flower stems on Fortnight lillies usually last from year to year, so leave them on the plant if possible. Unfortunately, it also self-seeds wildly, so best to prune off any seed heads before they mature. How to Prevent Browning on a Sagina Subulata Aurea, How To Care for the Lantana Lavender Trailing Plant, North Carolina Cooperative Extension: Dietes, Pat's Garden Forum: Pruning for Fortnight Lily (Dietes Iridioides, D. Bicolor), University of Florida IFAS Extension: Tom MacCubbin's Plant Doctor. Jill Kokemuller has been writing since 2010, with work published in the "Daily Gate City." It has dark green foliage and produces white, yellow and pink tall-stemmed flowers. Otherwise you will find this plant springing up all over and it is a real problem. Continue Reading, Gardening Question From Crystal: I am going to be doing some container gardening this summer for the first time. Flushes of flowers appear on roughly a two week cycle which has given this plant its common name of fortnight lily. It sounds to me as if that has happened with these plants in your garden. Thank you, for sharing your expansive knowledge. Lilies make a lovely addition to any garden, and unlike a lot of plants, they donât have to be pruned during their blooming period. To prevent self-seeding in your own garden or your neighbors’ gardens, clip off the green seed capsules after bloom but leave the stems of the white variety on the plant as long as they continue bearing flowers for several years. Pinch or clip spent blooms if they do not drop on their own. Fortnight Lilies(Dietes bicolor &vegeta)are reliable bloomers with evergreen foliage. However, old, damaged eaves of fortnight lilies are usually tough and need to be cut off. Its strap-like leaves grow from rhizomes that creep slowly along the ground to make thick clumps. I love the flowers of fortnight lily but after many years in the ground mine have grown large. The white flowers bloom on the ends of 3-foot tall stalks from spring through the fall. Cut just under the green seedpod with scissors to remove the pods as they appear to keep the iris from self-seeding. fortnight lily: This weed is not known to be naturalised in Victoria: Habitat: Margins of perennial streams & marshy areas, in full sun or light shade (GAMA 2009). Pruning needs: none necessary. If you can manage to clip off a clump this way, however, follow up with fertilizer and water, and then let the foliage re-sprout from the ground. The flowers rise above the foliage and look like small Japenese irises. Prune the plants regularly during the growing season to remove spent flower stalks and withered leaves. African iris (Dietes iridioides), also known as a fortnight lily or a butterfly iris, is a perennial evergreen flowering plant that grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 through 11. Jeff Wortham 1,634 views. Your site was the only one that provided good handling on controlling them. Someone planted a whole front yard of it, the next owner used a skip-loader to get rid of it. Save your flower bulbs in Zones 7 and down. Continue Reading, Gardening Question From Moira: Green caterpillars are eating our Bok Choy so I got your book out!!!! They're drought-tolerant and grow best when the soil is allowed ... 2. (Plants come up easier out of moist ground.) Cut brown or yellowing leaves and stalks back to the base of the plant with pruning shears. Gardenality is a gardening-centric site made by gardeners for gardeners with tools that enhance any gardening for the expert to the weekend gardener. I have you now in my favorites. Each flower lasts only a day, but the ⦠Don't cut fortnight lily flower stalks back because they bear new blooms during the season. The flowers are beautiful and to me they are low maintenance. Make clean pruning cuts straight across the foliage blade at the crown of the plant. Cut the entire plant back to ground level with hedge clippers in the fall if the plant has not been tended for several years and has an abundance of dead foliage. When you prune dying blooms, make sure you prune the entire stem, down to the base of the flower. Fortnight Lily is a rhizomatous perennial producing clumps of long, upright narrow leaves that reach 2-4 feet tall. The hardy fortnight lily (Dietes iridioide) is a perennial flower that originates from Africa. It features dark green grass-like leaves that reach an average landscape size of 2.5â² tall by 2â² wide growing slowly in clumps. A ⦠The leaves are 2 feet long, thin and sword-shaped. They grow best in soil amended with organic matter. Water tree mallow deeply about once a week, especially during hot or dry weather. Would rectangular boxes… This evergreen upright plant is called Dietes âLemon Dropsâ or commonly as Fortnight Lily and African Iris. Dietes is a genus of rhizomatous plants of the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1866. Then using a pair of sharp clippers clean up each new division, cutting away any spent foliage and old woody rhizomes, and keeping the fresh new growth. Fortnight lily (Dietes iridioides) is an evergreen, long-lived member of the lily family native to East Africa. Thank you..I’m new to this region and have an overgrown yard too play in. Mix a balanced organic fertilizer into the top 6 inches of amended soil applying the correct amount for new plantings given in the package directions, water the bed, let the soil settle overnight and the next day re-plant your new divisions straight back into the ground. 4:21. Fortnight lily are evergreen perennials with spreading fans of stiff, leathery sword shaped leaves up to 2 ft in length but only 0.75 in wide. learned to spray BT. A great choice for mass plantings and containers or near a pool or pond; can tolerate mild coastal conditions. The roots are not deep, so except for the size of the plants, you will find this job is not too difficult. Thatâs fine to pull on leaves of fortnight lily and have them pull out easily. Lovely Iris-like flowers rise above clumps of blade-shaped leaves on this evergreen perennial. Continue Reading. During blooming season, do not cut flower stems as blooms fade, as more blooms will occur. Continue Reading, Gardening Question from Debbie: I have this pot outside in my garden in a location where it receives morning shade but direct sun most all afternoon. I looked up about 20 sites before I found yours. How to Prune an African Iris Fortnight Lily. When pruning a fortnight lily, it is important to understand how they grow. Kokemuller is an authorized substitute teacher and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Iowa. What is the correct way to prune these plants so they will look good again? Thanks for the original idea, though I’m not about to try it. One solution is simply to cut off all the foliage now in fall. This job can be done with sharp electric hedge shears or even with a very sharp pair of hand held hedge shears. After this has happened for several years it’s virtually impossible to clean up a large old clump. Gardenality is a gardening-centric site made by gardeners for gardeners with tools that enhance any gardening for the expert to the weekend gardener. So glad to be of help! Thank you. I’ve heard of people tackling bird of paradise with a chain saw but never dietes. Water needs: Established plants are drought tolerant but bloom more freely with regular watering. Buy compost… The stems of the yellow fortnight lilies (D. bicolor) only bloom once, so clip these off after bloom. What would be an easy repair? ... A member of the iris family, it produces large white flowers with violet and yellow markings and is the showiest of the fortnight lily species. Another way to go, and in my opinion the best option, is to dig up and divide any clumps of dietes that have become overly large and unsightly. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. Cover plants with mulch before the first frost in zone 8 to keep them from freezing over the winter. I like fortnight lily. Dig the bulbs up in fall, after the foliage dies down, and store them in the garage until spring. I don't see them as weedy, not at all, but I am in an area that's not humid so they don't multiply all that fast. Instead, wait until after theyâre done blooming â usually after the first frost â to prune them. I want to upgrade the containers which are currently plastic buckets. Continue Reading, Gardening Question From Martha: I have access to a commercial mushroom farm that makes its spent mushroom medium available at no charge to gardeners. Dietes or fortnight lilies flower in waves of bloom throughout the year and can be a very troublesome plant unless one deadheads them properly according to each species so the seeds are not carried around by birds. D. iridioides (âFortnight Lily,â âWild Iris,â âAfrican Iris,â âCape Iris,â âMorea Irisâ) flowers are small, last only one day, and lack the spots. I used a chainsaw to cut the dense clump close to the ground. Snip back any winter-damaged foliage in the early spring, before new growth emerges. You have such a succinct way of clearly explaining things. What I have heard of is bulldozing. Once you have the monster out, use a sharp spade to cut it apart into sections. The local nursery worker did not know what BT is, so I… Continue Reading, Gardening Question From Adriana: I added lime to my vegetable garden soil and I killed everything i planted last year. up, the plant should be cut off 3-4 inches above finish grade in late Winter. This species belongs to the Iridaceae (Iris) family. Somedamaged leaves are nearly always present on Fortnight Lilies. Thank you so very much for your very kind comment! Dietes iridioides - Iridioides African Iris, Fortnight Lily - Duration: 4:21. Water and fertilize the cut plant with a balanced fertilizer, following manufacturer label rates, to help promote new growth. Great and easy way to clean up the plants. It is an easy, well-adapted plant for growing in Southern California. Step 2 Trim away any foliage that is in decline during the growing season. Dietes iridioides is a very common perennial grass-like plant. Bloom bursts seem to occur at 2-week intervals, hence the common name fortnight lily. Usually in ⦠They will bloom for several years. If you do not plan to keep seeds from your fortnight lily plant, cutting off the seed pods when they first form will keep the ⦠Our bottle may be 5 years old. Eventually clumps of fornight lily become very thick with growth and the problem is that fresh new leaves mix in with the old spent leaves. They will not bloom again. 1. Dietes is a genus of rhizomatous plants of the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1866. Thanks for writing. Cut off the good foliage along with the bad as close to ground level as you can manage. I do get some volunteer seedlings though. I tested the soil this year and it still shows too alkaline. Seems to bloom best with regular watering. Dietes vegeta (aka Dietes iridioides or Moraea iridioides) - Fortnight Lily or African Iris. We now know best that we should replace these with another simply trimmed plant. But even with the sharpest of hedge shears, this is a difficult job to do because the leaves and flower stems of these plants are notoriously tough and numerous. This seems to be a terrific addition for my raised beds. There are a few reasons and ways to prune your fortnight lily to keep it healthy and to get the highest number of blooms. How to Care for a Tree Mallow. When yellow fortnight lilies (Dietes bicolor) have finished blooming, cut off the flower stalks down to the ground. You do have to clean up any dead leaves and trim back the flower stalks, I do this like once a year. I once toured a mushroom… It produces many flowers from spring to late summer, with a fortnight (two weeks) of rest between each flowering period. Examples of herbaceous plants include agapanthus (lily of the Nile), daylilies, fortnight lilies, yarrow, asparagus fern and shasta daisies. Thank you for your response which is perfect. Start with Routine Maintenance On an as-needed basis, cut brown or yellow leaves back to the base of the greenery with pruning shears. Remove them one at a time; the leaves are tough and difficult to cut through. When yellow fortnight lilies (Dietes bicolor) have finished blooming, cut off the flower stalks down to the ground. They appear on branched stalks over an incredibly long season, extending from spring to fall and sometimes well into winter in mild climates. We have dietes in the small front planter of about 50 homes that have spread into other shrubs in 27 years. African iris like full morning sun and afternoon shade. She spent six years working in a private boarding school, where her focus was English, algebra and geometry. It did well for a while; then all leaves dropped but coming back now… Then, using a garden fork, dig the clump out of the ground. (Some incredibly sharp types of hedge shears are available from purveyors of garden supplies.) Actually, I do have one more topic (can you spell r â a â n â t) before I proceed with Butterfly Iris. First, water the clump you want to divide. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. I’ve purchased 4 15-gallon containers of Pandorea Jasminoides – Bowers Vine – that I want to train onto my wooden fence. They will not bloom again. It's okay to snap off the seed pods, but leave the stems alone. Cut sharply and cleanly straight across the leaf blade, near the crown of the plant. Dead leaves should be cut off the plants, and partially damaged leaves should be cut back as well. Within a short amount of time, the entire clump will renew itself and you will be pleased with the fresh, clean, bright green foliage that will result. Occurring in grassland, dry bushland, moist forest margins and mountain cliffs (Bricknell 1996). Sterilize the pruning shears by dipping their cutting blades into a solution of 2 tablespoons household bleach and 1 gallon of water for 30 minutes or by wiping the blades with isopropyl alcohol. Unfortunately, it also self-seeds wildly, so best to prune off any seed heads before they mature. When white dietes (D. iridioides, D. vegeta) have finshed blooming, remove all the seedpods but leave the stems in place. Yes, the clumps get big and dense and are hard to damage. Native to eastern and southern Africa, Dietes iridioides (Fortnight Lily) is a rhizomatous evergreen perennial with attractive flowers resembling small Japanese Irises. It can form large clumps if left undisturbed for years. Do not cut back the flower stalk, since it is perennial and will produce many more blooms. You will end up with a whole new planting that will resume flowering in spring and last many years before you once again need to dig up and divide the clumps. The time to do this job is fall or winter. African iris (Dietes iridioides), also known as a fortnight lily or a butterfly iris, is a perennial evergreen flowering plant that grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 through 11. Be aggressive in your pruning of them. If you want to prevent the plant from self-seeding, cut just under the green seedpod with scissors to remove it. Pruning. Dietes bicolor (variously known as African iris or fortnight lily) is a clump-forming rhizomatous perennial plant with long sword-like pale-green leaves, growing from multiple fans at the base of the clump. The fortnight lily is very drought tolerant in shade but can also be grown in full sun with regular to occasional irrigation. Valued for a long bloom period from spring to fall. Flowers come in solid colorswhite, cream, yellow; each of the three outer segments features a small contrasting blotch of orange, yellow, or brown. 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