I just got a new camera
13 comments
I unexpectedly received a tax refund, so I bought a camera. Now I am trying to figure out what I can do with it. Before, all I had was my telephone camera, and it didn’t take really good pictures. So out back I went, and there was a Dietes grandiflora open. The first time I saw one of these was in Perth, Western Australia. The ship (the USS Midway) had pulled in for a few days, and I was walking along the coast. We had to cross some railroad tracks, and there was this really nice group of flowers, so I took a picture and filed it in one of my photo albums.
Move to a couple of years ago, and a neighbor had a new flower he had gotten somewhere. He gave me a piece, I planted it, it grew and started to flower. Another friend, who likes to garden, came over, and we got on the subject of aircraft carriers. I pulled out my photos, and he recognized one as the new flower I had out back.
After I got my first computer, I ran across this flower in a catalog, and finally had a name to put with it: Dietes grandiflora. I ordered seeds for the Dietes bicolor, and hope to have that in a couple of years. And here is the picture that I wanted to use to see if I can download to a blog.
29 May, 2010
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Comments
pretty flower, enjoy snapping ;o))
29 May, 2010
Lovely photograph, will look out for many more, Enjoy your yourself experimenting........
29 May, 2010
Lovely flower, enjoy your camera.
29 May, 2010
Beautiful flower,and lovely markings.you have captured it perfectly,well taken..:o))
30 May, 2010
How long did your Dietes take to flower, Wylie? I planted some seeds of D.grandiflora in Spring last year, and they are only 4" tall, still in my greenhouse. Just wondering if I might get flowers this year??
19 Feb, 2012
I planted my D.bicolor 4 years ago, and for the first time there are flower buds! I go out every day now, hoping for a sign they are going to start opening.
20 Feb, 2012
Oh - thanks! Had no idea they would take so long . . . but I guess they're worth the wait. We, too, saw them in Australia (Kangaroo Island), and they are such lovely flowers.
20 Feb, 2012
Fortunately the foliage is evergreen and looks nice all year. Before, I had searched all over the place and couldn't find anything on how long it would take to flower. John Cage (a mycologist) said that patience was learned waiting in lines, but I don't think he ever planted a seed and waited for that first flower.
20 Feb, 2012
Lol! Too true Wylie! Beautiful flower! Do you still have it?
13 Jan, 2016
Yes. This and another member of the Iridaceae family, Moraea, do very well here. It flowers several times a year.
14 Jan, 2016
Great to see this again. I recently discovered that Hayloft sell Dietes, so have put in an order (my attempt to grow them from seed was a failure!).
15 Jan, 2016
I found it very easy to get the Dietes bicolor going. Not as good looking as this; but both are tough plants. I saw this for the first time growing by a railroad track and sand in Perth, WA.
15 Jan, 2016
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well you have succeeded! Have fun with your new camera and we all look forward to seeing the results
29 May, 2010