Dietes bicolor 'African Gold'
Dietes bicolor ‘African Gold’ on 20% of ETo in July 2018. Photo: SK Reid.
Summary
UC Davis is located in Davis, California, this site has a silty clay loam soil and plants are irrigated with potable water. More information about the field sites is located in the Nuts & Bolts section.
Pure Gold is a newer cultivar of the landscape stalwart Dietes bicolor, commonly called fortnight lily. The unique selling point of this cultivar is brighter yellow petals than the species with flecks of orange around the rich dark brown eyes of the three lower petals. There were no significant differences in growth between treatments. There were also no differences between treatments in any of the aesthetic ratings, except in the month of July when the foliage ratings on the Low treatment briefly dropped significantly lower than the Moderate treatment plants (Table 8a). One of the two irrigation applications for the Low treatment was in early July, and subsequently, plants recovered comparable appearance to the higher irrigation treatments by the August rating date. With comparable growth data and very good appearance on all irrigation levels, Pure Gold is a highly recommended plant for the Low water use category.
Before Pure Gold had bloomed, participants at our Spring Open House expressed skepticism over the need for another Dietes, which they viewed as a trite and unimpressive landscape plant. As the plants began to bloom this sentiment changed, and folks who had previously expressed their lack of interest in this genus as a whole began to express appreciation of the “attractive shape, nice looking flowers, abundant blooms,” and “vibrant color combination.” Overall Pure Gold scored well at all three public events, with Overall Appearance scores in the high 3s and low 4s (Table 8b). The consensus was that the plants seem “to always look reasonably good. Not a wow but a good landscape plant.”
Basic Info
| Submitted by: | Star Roses & Plants |
| Site(s): | UC Davis |
| Trial Exposure: | Sun |
| Year evaluated: | 2018 |
| Height & Width after 2 years: | 5.3' x 3.25' |
| Reported Height & Width at maturity: | 2-3' x 2-3' |
| WUCOLS plant type: | P |
| Water Needs & WUCOLS Region: | Low - Region 2 |
Mean Overall Appearance rating: (1-5 Scale, 5 is highest) | 4.1 |
| Flowering Months: | May-October |
Growth and Quality Data
Click Here for Complete Data Set
Dietes bicolor ‘African Gold’ on 50% of ETo in July 2018. The Pink Knock Out® rose and Tulbaghia ‘Ashanti’ in the background. Photo: SK Reid.