Question about Rebloomers

I know that some of the iris I bought last year are listed as potential rebloomers. I was wanting to know what do you do in order to get them to rebloom?

I've mostly let the spent stalk stay put until its fairly dried up but should I remove them? Would I need to give them extra fertilizer and maybe hit them with a few sprays of Messenger? Any tips or advice would be very helpful.

Donna

From Shreiner's catalog--"...But such rebloom is often dependent on geographic locations, climatic conditions and cultural practices.....But remember remontancy is NOT guaranteed".
I had an 'immortality' that tried to bloom in early november and the buds froze.

From all I have read about irises, do not use high-nitrate or nitrogen fertilizer. It will encourage leaf rot. Stay with bone meal or a super-phosphate. Next best is 5-20-20 or
equivalent ratios.

Thanks:) I'm not exactly counting on any rebloom but just wanted to provide the best chance for it. We tend to have fairly long growing seasons here...really sometimes too long. I had dahlias one year right through most of November and since I hate to cut back a blooming plant it makes me procrastinate getting the beds cleaned for winter and late planting the fall bulbs.

I'll have to pick up some bone meal and find a super-phosphate. I haven't been using much more than some MG Bloom Booster fertilizer and some SuperThrive occasionally.

Thanks for the advice.

Water during the summer also helps. New plants need time to settle in before they can do 2 seasons. Immortality is famous for taking its time, but once settled is very reliable.

Did you check to see if your varieties are reliable rebloomers for your zone? Sutton Iris and other iris farms on-line have alphabetical lists that should tell you if your particular plants are reliable rebloomers to your zone 7. Not all rebloomers will rebloom in all zones.

The second group of irises that I purchased were all rebloomers. I did my homework before picking the ones I wanted from Iris City Gardens, and looked at the above charts to make my chances better to get rebloom here in zone 5/6. I have not been disappointed with my plants - Immortality, Clarence, Plum Wine, Baby Blessed, Lo Ho Silver, and Rosalie Figge, which was a bonus plant. Last year and this year, they were spectacular, blooming last spring, late summer into fall, and then again a full bloom from all plants this spring. Keep in mind too, that all the plants were lifted, divided, and replanted at our new house when we moved in August of '06.

Defintiely cut down spent scapes or stalks, so the plants will not be able to put any energy into making seeds. I would feed a couple of times during the summer with a fertilizer with a high middle number - such as 5-10-5, for example. I use Peter's soluable plant food. Super phosphate or bloom booster fertilizer would work too. They are heaveir feeders than spring blooming irises, and bloom on increases. So you want summer growth. Water too is very important. If it get dry, water your rebloomers.

There is tons of information at this website:
http://www.rebloomingiris.com/culture.htm

There are lists of rebloomers, zone info, and a few pictures at rebloomingiris.com too.

Hope I've helped,
Linda

I just found that site and added it to favorites. The two I have are in containers and flowered really nicely already so I'll cut down the stalk. We're hitting the upper 90's now so I'll be watering pretty much almost daily. I haven't checked for the zone 7 rebloom so I'll look into that also.

I planted all new iris in December 07 so guess they'll be settling in a bit longer:)

I have Luminosity and Harvest of Memories and am buying a few more this summer. The heat may not be the best thing for rebloom either. The temps this year look like they're going to be scorching.



This message was edited Jun 7, 2008 7:49 PM

Can you trim the foliage back now or will that effect the Fall bloom?

From what I read you want to leave the foliage intact and keep the plant watered and fed so it doesn't go dormant like once blooming iris. Just remove any dried outer leaves and cut the flower stalk down after blooming.

I haven't been cutting back any of my iris leaves even when cleaning the bed for fall and winter. I just will go out and pluck off any dried up leaves every now and then. I was really surprised how even in winter I had new leaf growth. I only cut them when I'm dividing and mailing.

I too do not trim back foilage on either my once bloomers or rebloomers. You would definitely NOT want to cut foilage back on rebloomers. The leaves will be helping to make food to support possible rebloom.

This spring, I only trimmed back dead or leaves that did not look very good. I also fed all my iris with water soluable Peters about 4 to 6 weeks before the date I would expect bloom. I had never done this before, and I can't say if the extra shot of fertilizer did anything at all, but this has been an outstanding year in our local for irises of all kinds.

Linda