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| Category: Perennial |
| Family: Iridaceae (Irises) |
| Origin: South Africa (Africa) |
| Evergreen: Yes |
| Flower Color: White |
| Bloomtime: Winter |
| Synonyms: [D. 'Jimmy Giridlian'] |
| Parentage: (Dietes butcheriana hybrid?) |
| Height: 2-3 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 a slightly open clump to 30 inches tall by 3 to 4 feet wide with fans of 3 foot long broad sword-shaped dark green leaves that arch over gracefully. The branching inflorescence rises just to the foliage height and has 2 inch wide white flowers with the outer petals heavily marked with white. The flowers are very similar to another plant we used to grow, Dietes butcheriana, which also has similar wide dark green leaves but is more upright growing and seems to be more easily damaged by snails. Plant coastal sun to pretty deep shade and irrigate occasionally to very little. This plant should be hardy at least down to the low 20°s F - we have had this plant in our garden for many years and it seems hardy to all low temperatures we have had since planting it, including 3 nights of 25°F during the January 2007 cold spell. We previously offered seedlings of this plant but these plants are all divisions from the original clone sourced from grassman 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 (Jimmy) Giridlian. Mr. Gridlian had created such venerable Dietes hybrids as 'Lemon Drops' and 'Orange Drops' at Oakhurst Gardens, his Arcadia California Nursery that he operated between 1928 to 1968. He also grew a plant he called Dietes “zululandi” as an 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'.
This information about Dietes 'Jack Catlin' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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