Hi - I'm thinking about frothing up a sunny border with some Dierama Pulcherrimum - has anyone grown any and can advise, please? I know they produce tons of seed but do they self seed around and start popping up everywhere? Thanks
Thanks both. I've never grown Dierama before but figured it would look super pretty in with some agapanthus. I love a plant that doesn't need pruning or much maintenance but sometimes they're trouble in other ways
Agree, seeding around is generally not an issue. I've found they don't like extremes at the roots though and have lost a couple, one in heavy clay (too wet in winter) and one I planted in a large container which got too dry in one of the droughts we had in the East of the country.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Dierama have that annoying characteristic of being semi evergreen. In other words they don’t spend five months of the year underground and out of sight, nor do they robustly stand up to anything a British winter throws at them. No, from November to May they hang around looking shabby and down at heel. But the flowers are beautiful and thus I forgive them.
This photo was taken in 2019 after the plant had been in the ground for 2 years. This summer I am expecting there to be 20+ ‘fishing rods’.
Thank you so much for this! I agree it's sad about the whole shabbiness out of season but I'm sort of used to that with the apparently self-mulching brunnera over the winter too
I seeded a tray of Dierama for the first time this year. They're undercover, they sprouted but I know it's a patience game with them. I might be tempted to buy some mature ones until mine finally flower.
Dieramas are lovely. They like dry winters and wet summers, not my local weather, they come from the plains of South America, down here in Cornwall they seed themselves fairly prolifically in gritty soil. Easy enough to weed out. They take about 3/4 yrs to reach flowering size. I have found they look OK if I stir myself in the autumn to remove any dead growth, leaving the greenery untouched. There is a local radio gardening expert in Helston who does not seem to be able to grow them despite trying for years. My soil is thin and gritty, bulked up with multi purpose compost and most of my dieramas are growing in a bed surrounding a small pond so get a lot of surplus rain water. I think they like quite a damp growing area, dryness seems to kill them off as I had mine in pots growing on to flowering size and they were not happy at all.
I have been very lucky with our dieramas - I was given one in a pot about ten years ago, it has since been divided several times (once with a saw it was so solid!) and I have 3 in the ground as well as the one in the pot. They all flower prolifically every year, even after splitting which they shouldn't!! We have clay soil here so everything that the rules say to make them work, we have the opposite however they seem to love it!! very odd!!
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This photo was taken in 2019 after the plant had been in the ground for 2 years. This summer I am expecting there to be 20+ ‘fishing rods’.
I think they like quite a damp growing area, dryness seems to kill them off as I had mine in pots growing on to flowering size and they were not happy at all.