Wonderful surprise
 

After an arduous and extremely tiring day, I got home fit to drop.
Waiting for me was a parcel from Portugal and inside was a ruddy great
chunk of Dietes robinsoniana in prime condition. I've been searching
for this sub-tropical 'Iris' for quite a few years and had all but
given up hope of getting it. It doesn't appear in any of the plant
catalogues and seed needs to be very fresh so invariably, bought seed
has already lost its viability. An acquaintance from one of the groups
I'm on learned that I was searching for it asked for my address and
sent me a division. Brilliant! It's made my day and this is
definitely the plant find of the year for me.

Wonderful surprise
 

"Dave Poole" wrote in message
...
After an arduous and extremely tiring day, I got home fit to drop.
Waiting for me was a parcel from Portugal and inside was a ruddy great
chunk of Dietes robinsoniana in prime condition. I've been searching
for this sub-tropical 'Iris' for quite a few years and had all but
given up hope of getting it. It doesn't appear in any of the plant
catalogues and seed needs to be very fresh so invariably, bought seed
has already lost its viability. An acquaintance from one of the groups
I'm on learned that I was searching for it asked for my address and
sent me a division. Brilliant! It's made my day and this is
definitely the plant find of the year for me.

Good for you Dave :-))

And I have had a wonderful day on two fronts, both of which would be very
off topic and would raise the hackles of certain people wouldn't it ;-))
????

Mike
but you knew that didn't you? ;-))



--

....................................

Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.

....................................

Wonderful surprise
 

"Dave Poole" wrote

After an arduous and extremely tiring day, I got home fit to drop.
Waiting for me was a parcel from Portugal and inside was a ruddy great
chunk of Dietes robinsoniana in prime condition. I've been searching
for this sub-tropical 'Iris' for quite a few years and had all but
given up hope of getting it. It doesn't appear in any of the plant
catalogues and seed needs to be very fresh so invariably, bought seed
has already lost its viability. An acquaintance from one of the groups
I'm on learned that I was searching for it asked for my address and
sent me a division. Brilliant! It's made my day and this is
definitely the plant find of the year for me.

You mentioned that before when i sent you a bit of my Dietes (which happened
to be missnamed anyway). It must be rare in cultivation as it only comes
from Lord Howe Island, bet you don't try that outside. :-)
--
Regards Bob Hobden
Posting to this Newsgroup from the W. of London UK

Wonderful surprise
 

On 21/10/2011 17:51, Dave Poole wrote:
After an arduous and extremely tiring day, I got home fit to drop.
Waiting for me was a parcel from Portugal and inside was a ruddy great
chunk of Dietes robinsoniana in prime condition. I've been searching
for this sub-tropical 'Iris' for quite a few years and had all but
given up hope of getting it. It doesn't appear in any of the plant
catalogues and seed needs to be very fresh so invariably, bought seed
has already lost its viability. An acquaintance from one of the groups
I'm on learned that I was searching for it asked for my address and
sent me a division. Brilliant! It's made my day and this is
definitely the plant find of the year for me.

Nothing like getting a plant you've been after for ages!

I see that Derry Watkins offers seeds of D. robinsoniana. I would guess
that these would be from her own plants, and should therefore be
available fresh. Still, it's better to have the plant.

Looks very much like a Moraea to me.

--

Jeff

Wonderful surprise
 

Bob,
It's 'as you were' with regard to your Dietes. I was misled by the
first, somewhat mis-shaped, short-lived flowers. This year it has
produced longer lived flowers with the correct colouration and
markings for D. grandiflora. Sorry about that :-| In my defence,
they are very similar :-)

D. robinsoniana was successful growing as several large clumps in the
cliff gardens down on the sea front up until the early '80s. I'd read
about it in the RHS mag 'The Journal' and was delighted to see it in
full flower here when I first moved down. Typical of council-run
'gardens', the clumps disappeared over the next few year and replaced
by gaudy annuals!!! I'm confident that it will grow outside here
provided we see some return to our more normal winters in the next few
years. Hopefully, increased solar activity will help shift or at
least ameliorate the effects of the Arctic dipole anomaly that has
caused us so much grief recently.

Jeff,
Derry Watkins does not answer e-mails and after several attempts I
gave up. I've tried seeds before, but as mentioned earlier it would
appear they need to be spanking fresh for them to germinate. To the
uninitiated, Dietes may seem similar to Moraea, but this one is very
distinctive when you see it face on. The flowers are a good 12cms
across or more held in successively opening clusters on 1.2m high (or
more) stems and have a rather powerfully sweet fragrance. It's a bold
evergreen with meter long, 5cms wide leaves and is pretty impressive
as a foliage plant quite unlike any of the Moraeas.