Plant of the Week: Dierama

Summer-flowering angel’s fishing rod has an elegant charm

Angel’s fishing rod, or dierama, cause such excitement when their arching, wiry flower stems burst into bloom. Their distinctive character makes them ideal for poolside plantings or dotting among other grassy plants.

These semi-evergreen perennials from South Africa grow from small corms, rather like crocosmia, producing a sheaf of narrow, blue-green foliage about 30-90cm (1-3ft) in height, depending on species and variety. Wiry wands appear in July until early September, arching like an over-stressed fishing rod as the bell-shaped blooms start to open along its length. Flowers come in shades of pink, purple, coral and white, with flower sizes again varying from species to species, but usually 6-7.5cm (2½-3in) across.

Slieve Donard hybrids are one of the earliest selections, created in the 1950s and 60s by the Slieve Donard nursery in County Down, Northern Ireland, but more recent breeding has seen the King Arthur series, named after various characters of the myth, start to become popular.

Angel’s fishing rods need space to allow the airy flower stems to have impact, and look dramatic if planted in a drift in a gravel garden or open border. They also look effective by a pool, but don’t want to be planted as a marginal in wet soil. Ideally, they prefer a fertile, moist, well-drained soil, but don’t like drought.

Plant nursery-grown clumps in late winter or early spring, remembering they take time to establish and flower reliably. They also take time to settle after lifting and dividing, the only way to reliably propagate named varieties, either in late winter, or after flowering in late summer. Species are easily grown from seed under glass in spring, taking a couple of years

to grow to planting size, and around five years to flower.