Hardiness zones
Sunset 8-9, 12-24
USDA 8 with protection, 9 - 11
Landscape Use: Accent, poolside, water features rock garden, border plantings
Form & Character: Herbaceous evergreen perennial, oriental
Growth Habit: Upright, clumping via rhizomes to 3' tall
Foliage/Texture: Narrow medium green to gray green strap like leaves arising from base in fan like pattern
Flowers & Fruits: 3" wide waxy white flowers with orange and brown spots and purple stippling. Flowers open for only one day. Flower stalks produce many flowers over time. Fruit a green pod, non ornamental.
Seasonal Color: Spring to early summer flowering
Temperature: Tolerant up to 105oF, experiences heat stress in Phoenix summer if given full exposure. Optimal temperature range for growth is 40o to 90oF.
Light: Full sun to partial shade; partial shade is best in lower desert landscapes.
Soil: Tolerant, but will develop chlorosis and leaf tip scald in chronically wet alkaline soils or if subjected to excessive chlorinated pool runoff
Watering: Regular to some drought, especially in non-desert climates
Pruning: Remove spent flower stalks. Break off seed pods to increase flowering
Propagation: Division, seed
Disease and pests: None
Additional comments: D. bicolor has yellow flowers with maroon blotches. Good pool plant if one can avoid excessive chlorine water overspill. I tend to think of this as a "California" plant transplanted into Phoenix landscape plant palette.
