They're drought-tolerant and grow best when the soil is allowed ... 2. When yellow fortnight lilies (Dietes bicolor) have finished blooming, cut off the flower stalks down to the ground. Valued for a long bloom period from spring to fall. 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. 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. How to Prune an African Iris Fortnight Lily. That’s fine to pull on leaves of fortnight lily and have them pull out easily. Thank you, for sharing your expansive knowledge. Water and fertilize the cut plant with a balanced fertilizer, following manufacturer label rates, to help promote new growth. It is an easy, well-adapted plant for growing in Southern California. Your experience sounds unusual and makes me wonder if something chewed them off or otherwise weakened the dead leaves at ground level. ... 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. D. iridioides (‘Fortnight Lily,’ ‘Wild Iris,’ ‘African Iris,’ ‘Cape Iris,’ ‘Morea Iris’) flowers are small, last only one day, and lack the spots. You do have to clean up any dead leaves and trim back the flower stalks, I do this like once a year. What I have heard of is bulldozing. 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. Examples of herbaceous plants include agapanthus (lily of the Nile), daylilies, fortnight lilies, yarrow, asparagus fern and shasta daisies. I’ve heard of people tackling bird of paradise with a chain saw but never dietes. 4:21. Continue Reading, Gardening Question From Adriana: I added lime to my vegetable garden soil and I killed everything i planted last year. 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. Seems to bloom best with regular watering. The hardy fortnight lily (Dietes iridioide) is a perennial flower that originates from Africa. Continue Reading. Would rectangular boxes… It produces many flowers from spring to late summer, with a fortnight (two weeks) of rest between each flowering period. (Some incredibly sharp types of hedge shears are available from purveyors of garden supplies.) Lovely Iris-like flowers rise above clumps of blade-shaped leaves on this evergreen perennial. Fortnight lily (Dietes iridioides) is an evergreen, long-lived member of the lily family native to East Africa. Make clean pruning cuts straight across the foliage blade at the crown of the plant. The upright clumps of leaves are held in a vertical fanlike plane and they spread on creeping rhizomes which sometimes ascend a … Lilies make a lovely addition to any garden, and unlike a lot of plants, they don’t have to be pruned during their blooming period. Great and easy way to clean up the plants. What would be an easy repair? Continue Reading, Gardening Question From Crystal: I am going to be doing some container gardening this summer for the first time. Your information was just what I needed! 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. Its strap-like leaves grow from rhizomes that creep slowly along the ground to make thick clumps. 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. Yes, the clumps get big and dense and are hard to damage. Throw away the old messy center and keep several good divisions. Thank you..I’m new to this region and have an overgrown yard too play in. The time to do this job is fall or winter. Don't cut fortnight lily flower stalks back because they bear new blooms during the season. 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. 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). One solution is simply to cut off all the foliage now in fall. Dietes iridioides - Iridioides African Iris, Fortnight Lily - Duration: 4:21. A … When you prune dying blooms, make sure you prune the entire stem, down to the base of the flower. It did well for a while; then all leaves dropped but coming back now… The flowers rise above the foliage and look like small Japenese irises. The long, branching flower stems on Fortnight lillies usually last from year to year, so leave them on the plant if possible. Somedamaged leaves are nearly always present on Fortnight Lilies. Cut sharply and cleanly straight across the leaf blade, near the crown of the plant. It's okay to snap off the seed pods, but leave the stems alone. Jill Kokemuller has been writing since 2010, with work published in the "Daily Gate City." However, old, damaged eaves of fortnight lilies are usually tough and need to be cut off. The stems of the yellow fortnight lilies (D. bicolor) only bloom once, so clip these off after bloom. This will give the plant a chance to renew itself. We now know best that we should replace these with another simply trimmed plant. The flowers are beautiful and to me they are low maintenance. Fortnight Lilies(Dietes bicolor &vegeta)are reliable bloomers with evergreen foliage. Buy compost… The fortnight lily is very drought tolerant in shade but can also be grown in full sun with regular to occasional irrigation. I am trying to do it as organically as possible. Blooms occur in waves at intervals of approximately two weeks, hence the name. up, the plant should be cut off 3-4 inches above finish grade in late Winter. If you want to prevent the plant from self-seeding, cut just under the green seedpod with scissors to remove it. Pruning. After this has happened for several years it’s virtually impossible to clean up a large old clump. Dead leaves should be cut off the plants, and partially damaged leaves should be cut back as well. 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. Dietes iridioides is a very common perennial grass-like plant. Water tree mallow deeply about once a week, especially during hot or dry weather. 1. I looked up about 20 sites before I found yours. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. Cover plants with mulch before the first frost in zone 8 to keep them from freezing over the winter. Water needs: Established plants are drought tolerant but bloom more freely with regular watering. I’ve purchased 4 15-gallon containers of Pandorea Jasminoides – Bowers Vine – that I want to train onto my wooden fence. Dietes vegeta (aka Dietes iridioides or Moraea iridioides) - Fortnight Lily or African Iris. They grow best in soil amended with organic matter. Clumps will live for many years and look best with regular irrigation, but can survive with little irrigation once established. Do not cut back the flower stalk, since it is perennial and will produce many more blooms. It sounds to me as if that has happened with these plants in your garden. It was, still, slightly difficult. Question from Karen: How to Care for a Tree Mallow. Once you have the monster out, use a sharp spade to cut it apart into sections. First, water the clump you want to divide. learned to spray BT. Unfortunately, it also self-seeds wildly, so best to prune off any seed heads before they mature. Thank you for your response which is perfect. Step 2 Trim away any foliage that is in decline during the growing season. 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. What is the correct way to prune these plants so they will look good again? (Plants come up easier out of moist ground.) Dig the bulbs up in fall, after the foliage dies down, and store them in the garage until spring. African iris like full morning sun and afternoon shade. When white dietes (D. iridioides, D. vegeta) have finshed blooming, remove all the seedpods but leave the stems in place. Unfortunately, it also self-seeds wildly, so best to prune off any seed heads before they mature. Thanks for the original idea, though I’m not about to try it. The white flowers bloom on the ends of 3-foot tall stalks from spring through the fall. This can be done at any time of the year. Thank you so very much for your very kind comment! This species belongs to the Iridaceae (Iris) family. I have you now in my favorites. 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. Stiff stalks carry iris-like flowers with pale violet inner petals and white outer petals spotted in white. Cut just under the green seedpod with scissors to remove the pods as they appear to keep the iris from self-seeding. Dietes is a genus of rhizomatous plants of the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1866. 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. Actually, I do have one more topic (can you spell r – a – n – t) before I proceed with Butterfly Iris. So glad to be of help! 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. I love the flowers of fortnight lily but after many years in the ground mine have grown large. When pruning a fortnight lily, it is important to understand how they grow. It has dark green foliage and produces white, yellow and pink tall-stemmed flowers. Gardenality is a gardening-centric site made by gardeners for gardeners with tools that enhance any gardening for the expert to the weekend gardener. This evergreen upright plant is called Dietes ‘Lemon Drops’ or commonly as Fortnight Lily and African Iris. The local nursery worker did not know what BT is, so I… A great choice for mass plantings and containers or near a pool or pond; can tolerate mild coastal conditions. 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. Start with Routine Maintenance On an as-needed basis, cut brown or yellow leaves back to the base of the greenery with pruning shears. It features dark green grass-like leaves that reach an average landscape size of 2.5′ tall by 2′ wide growing slowly in clumps. 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. Our bottle may be 5 years old. Otherwise you will find this plant springing up all over and it is a real problem. 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. I have bough an organic potting soil but would like to… I do get some volunteer seedlings though. Gardenality is a gardening-centric site made by gardeners for gardeners with tools that enhance any gardening for the expert to the weekend gardener. Answer from Pat: 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. Usually in … Each flower lasts only a day, but the … When white dietes (D. iridioides, D. vegeta) have finshed blooming, remove all the seedpods but leave the stems in place. Bloom bursts seem to occur at 2-week intervals, hence the common name fortnight lily. Save your flower bulbs in Zones 7 and down. This seems to be a terrific addition for my raised beds. 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. I tested the soil this year and it still shows too alkaline. Kokemuller is an authorized substitute teacher and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Iowa. Pruning needs: none necessary. There are a few reasons and ways to prune your fortnight lily to keep it healthy and to get the highest number of blooms. I once toured a mushroom… Fortnight Lily is a rhizomatous perennial producing clumps of long, upright narrow leaves that reach 2-4 feet tall. Then, using a garden fork, dig the clump out of the ground. I want to upgrade the containers which are currently plastic buckets. They will not bloom again. The roots are not deep, so except for the size of the plants, you will find this job is not too difficult. Someone planted a whole front yard of it, the next owner used a skip-loader to get rid of it. Be aggressive in your pruning of them. They will bloom for several years. Flowers come in solid colorswhite, cream, yellow; each of the three outer segments features a small contrasting blotch of orange, yellow, or brown. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. For more information please watch the video. Prune the plants regularly during the growing season to remove spent flower stalks and withered leaves. 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