Is it just me or the re-blooming irises?

When I moved and started a new garden, the irises I bought were mainly re-bloomers. I seem to be noticing three things about re-bloomers that might be due to a) something I'm doing or not doing, b) moving 200 miles south (from the MD/PA border to the middle of the Shenandoah Valley), or c) the nature of re-blooming irises. What do you think?

1) They get crowded and have to be divided frequently. Maybe it's because they divide fast enough to bloom twice, so you have to divide them a lot more often?

2) Spring bloom is not as spectacular as the once-blooming irises. Maybe it's the same as the difference between once-blooming and repeat-blooming roses?

3) They seem to be much more attractive to borers. I have never had a problem with borers before. Maybe geography?

1) I think this is often the case. Rebloomers tend to be particularly vigorous growers.

2) I suspect that because they are such rapid increasers, rebloomer clumps tend to have more rhizomes at varying stages of maturity, so the proportion of blooming:non blooming rzs during any bloom cycle may be lower than in once-blooming clumps. That may give the illusion of less spectacular bloom per clump.

3) Although there are cultivars that seem more attractive to borers than others, I've never noticed a correlation between borer activity and rebloomers vs oncers. I suspect your increase in borers has more, if not everything, to do with your geographic relocation.

Laurie

What few rebloomers actually bloom for me look great in the spring & sparse in the fall.

Me too Wanda,

There are only a handful that grow very nicely in the Fall. By that I mean - they grow nice tall stalks, has lots and lots of buds, and nice branching. Some others may bloom (in the fall too) but they have have short yucky stalks, maybe 3-4 flowers......... all on one badly branched stalk. To me - - those kind of rebloomers are not worth growing. (excepting for spring bloom)

Wanda and Margie I agree, very few look spectacular both Spring and Fall. I have some if they bloom in the Fall they don't in the Spring. It's as if it took everything it had when it bloomed during the Fall so it rests come Spring and then blooms again in Fall.

Shirley

Shirley - - that is so TRUE!! I've noticed that too. I have one that is named Autumn Circus that will ONLY bloom for me in the Fall. I have yet to see if bloom for me in the spring. Could be where I'm located..................I'm not sure why that is.

~Margie

Think about it. Irises take 2-3 years to bloom on a rhizome. They will need to create twice as many rhizomes just to stay even with the bloom.

Interesting though. Do fall blooming rhizomes create fall blooming rhizomes? I would need to mark the blooming rhizome in the fall & see if the babies bloom spring or fall. Does anyone else want to keep records? Could we breed iris that ONLY bloom (but bloom well!) in the fall?

My guess, Wanda, is that fall blooming rzs do not necessarily produce fall blooming increases. I think reblooming rzs bloom whenever they are mature enough to bloom and when the climatic and daylength conditions are right. The rate at which rzs mature will be influenced by all sorts of climatic and cultural variables.

Wanda,
You asked if we could breed iris that will ONLY bloom in the fall. I think anything is possible given the right genes, and conditions. Now - - there is one thing I HAVE witnessed since I've been crossing irises, is that those seeds with reblooming genes will not ONLY germinate in spring, but a selected few will germinate in the FALL. And I suspect, (but will watch further)..........that those which DO germinate in the fall are MUCH MORE likely to bloom and rebloom more often in the fall than those seeds that germinate in the spring. Just a theory at this point................ but in time I'll hope to learn more. Are you following what I'm saying? Am I making any sense?

~Margie

Lots of sense. It is something I've wondered about. If re-blooming iris have fall or spring blooming rhizomes, it would explain why some people get no bloom at all in the fall (they have spring bloomers)while others get only fall blooming. Would a fall blooming rhizome only beget a fall bloomer? If I get little spring bloom and little fall bloom, is it a patch of fall bloomers that just never get a long enough fall season to bloom?

I see an interesting experiment. I could isolate the fall blooming rhizomes from a clump & see if they produce only fall blooming rhizomes. Wouldn't take that much effort. Immortality & Clarence are the only two clumps that give me consistent fall blooms.

Wanda-Immortality and Clarence are the only ones that bloom Spring and Fall and look great for me also. I always look forward to entering Clarence in our Sept Fair. He has won blue ribbons for me. Alot of people still don't know about re-blooming irises and it shocks them to see them in the Fair.

I hope to keep a log this Spring and Fall about each irises blooming habits. I will know exactly which one bloomed Spring and not in the Fall and vice versa. Hope to set it up in Excel on a spreadsheet, will be
much easier that way. Over 300 irises I will have to make it easy.

Shirley

Autumn Jester reblooms up here but my bestest is Forever Blue, from Chuck Chapman. All this iris talk and some rain today has me getting all ready for the spring.

inanda

I was out eyeing the iris last night as I fed my beds. Time to get them uncovered for spring!