Forum home Plants

Do you have a Dierama, Angel's fishing rods? Advice needed please.

MrsGardenMrsGarden Posts: 3,951
Advice about dierama please. Want to plant one as a feature but can only find pictures where it looks 'perfect'!
How does it look in the winter, does it get particularly tatty at any time or over time?
These don't seem to be available at the moment, when is the best time to buy/plant?
Can it survive having little root width (I understand it's a tap root) - I'm thinking about having it in a chimney pot - see article following....

Posts

  • MrsGardenMrsGarden Posts: 3,951
    Hardy Plant Society, Vol 36, no 1, Spring 2015, page 15....
    aghh I can't cut and paste the article!

    ...open bottom chimney pot......thickness of the pot will protect the roots,....need extra water in summer....a better bet than in a soggy winter..

    Does this sound like a good plan from your experiences?
    Tia.



  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601

    These plants do not die down but some of the leaves die off each year and have to be cut off if you want it to look perfect. I grew most of mine from seed and a few were bought as young plants which arrived in spring but I see no reason why autumn wouldn't be just as good.

    It isn't a tap root, it is some sort of corm or bulb, and they HATE any disturbance at all so transplanting is really tricky. However, they do both grow as a clump, getting wider and wider, and they self-seed if they are happy. Personally, I wouldn't recommend growing them in a pot at all because they seem to like lots of room and it might be difficult to get the watering right. (Though very small baby plants are best protected until they are a bit bigger, then they go out into the garden.)

    Mine are over 4ft tall, too, so not ideal in a tall, thin pot.

    Good luck, they are beauties if you can grow them.

  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,756
    Posy is right, we have grown them in pots, but they don't thrive.  They like reliably moist soil, and pots are too variable in their wetness.  As they are clump-forming, they will eventually outgrow the pot and you will be forced to move them, which Posy correctly says they dislike.  I have seen them growing between paving slabs, so they don't need a lot of space, and they love the moisture that paving slabs trap below them.  If you have the patience of a saint, try growing them from seed, and be prepared to wait years for flowers.  We have always bought mature plants, although we let them self seed.  Ours are flowering now, brings a smile to the face.
  • MrsGardenMrsGarden Posts: 3,951
    Thank you both. Thats just what I needed to hear - spreading widthways! Maybe I'll change plan and plant in the ground with a paving circle around them (possibly not cemented down though !
Sign In or Register to comment.