Fortnight Lily
Dietes iridioides · Garden flowers
Fortnight Lily
San Diego Botanic Garden, 7 March 2026
A Fortnight Lily in a San Diego garden, a South African plant of the iris family grown all over Southern California because it takes drought and neglect and flowers regardless.
The name comes from how often it reblooms: a fresh flush of flowers roughly every two weeks through a long season, though each individual bloom lasts only a day or two. The purple-and-yellow marking at the centre is a target for pollinators, in the same role as the similar marking on a real iris, to which this plant is only a distant relative.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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