Discover Dietes, a plant with very decorative flowers

In South Africa there are very curious and very decorative plants, like the one we are going to present to you. It can be grown both in a pot and in the garden, both indoors and outdoors, and in addition, it is very easy to care.

His name is Diets, and it is a plant that, once it sprouts from the rhizome, always maintains its leaves. Its showy flowers are undoubtedly its main attraction. Well, who can resist its beauty?

Dietes plants belong to the Iridaceae family, just like lilies. They have linear leaves, which grow more or less up to a meter in height, erect, dark green in color. Its flowers appear grouped in inflorescences, and have 6 tepals (which is the part of the flower that protects the sexual organs, called the perianth, when the corolla and the calyx cannot be clearly differentiated). In this botanical genus it is common for them to have some stain at their base, as you can see in the upper image of Diete bicolor. They appear during spring and summer, but if the weather is mild, You can also do it the rest of the year.

In cultivation it is a very grateful plant, which can be both directly exposed to the sun and in semi-shade (as long as it has more light than shade). In addition, it is very resistant to drought, so it will only be necessary to water once a week. The only drawback is that it does not tolerate much cold or frost (only up to -2ºC), but as we said, you can have it decorating your home all the time you want.

It is highly recommended to fertilize it every 15 days with a specific fertilizer for bulbous plants. In this way, we will keep our Diets healthy and strong; not to mention that each year new shoots will come out which they will be filled with new flowers 🙂.

As a substrate you can use black peat with equal parts perlite, putting a first layer of volcanic clay inside the pot (or the planting hole).

You can multiply your plant by division of rhizomes when it's done blooming, or by seeds sown directly in the seedbed during the spring.

Did you know the Dietes? Did you like it?