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| Category: Perennial |
| Family: Iridaceae (Irises) |
| Origin: South Africa (Africa) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Flower Color: White |
| Bloomtime: Winter |
| Parentage: (Dietes butcheriana hybrid?) |
| Height: 1-2 feet |
| Width: 3-4 feet |
| Exposure: Shade |
| Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs |
| Winter Hardiness: 25-30° F |
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Dietes 'Jack Catlin' (Jack Catlin's Fortnight Lily) – An evergreen slow growing perennial that forms an open clump to 18-24 inches tall by 3 to 4 feet wide with only a few fans of 3 foot long broad sword shaped dark green leaves that arch over gracefully in fans that are splayed outward rather than upward as is typical with most other Dietes. The 2 foot long branching inflorescence also has a more diagonal alignment and has 2 inch wide white flowers with the outer petals heavily marked with white. The flowers are nearly identical to the plant we grow a Dietes butcheriana, which also has similar wide dark green leaves but is more upright growing. Plant is morning sun to deep shade and irrigate occasionally to little. Our parent plant withstood our 1990 temperatures of 18 F, though was somewhat protected in the understory of trees. Our plants are seedlings of a plant we have long had an admired in our garden. We received this plant in the 1980's from John Greenlee who got it from the late Jack Catlin. Mr. Catlin, a renowned plant breeder in his own right had a collection of Dietes hybrids from James Gridlian. Mr. Gridlian had created such venerable Dietes hybrids as 'Lemon Drops' and 'Orange Drops' at Oarkhurst Gardens, his Arcadia California Nursery that he operated between 1928 to 1968. He also grew a plant he called Dietes “zululandi” as a unidentified species and made several crosses between this plant and the common Fortnight Lily, D. grandiflora which he called Dietes 'Africa' (introduced in 1950) and a smaller plant Dietes 'South Africa' (introduced in 1958). We suspect that Dietes “zululandi” may have been Dietes butcheriana and that the plant John Greenlee got from Jack Catlin was one of the hybrids. Whatever it is it is a wonderful and slow growing plant that thrives in the deep shade under our large Arbutus 'Marina'.
The description above is based on our research and observations of this plant growing in our nursery, in our own garden and in other gardens in the Santa Barbara area. We would appreciate hearing from anyone who has additional information about this plant, even if they disagree with what we have written.
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