Should I try Reblooming Iris?

I have tried tall beared Iris before but the old varieties that were here for 40 years do well while anything new I tried died out in two years or so. Now I have found out that Iris do not like mulch much so I think that is the problem. I have a great spot in out in front along a new garden I did this fall. Unlike most of my beds, this spot can only be litely mulched. I want to plant daylilies and Iris staggered accross in the front, daylily Iris, daylily Iris, etc.

Should I plant more than one plant (division) together?

Thanks.

That is a matter of personel preference. If you plant multiples, you'll have to thin sooner, but you'll have a show sooner. Be sure to give them ample room. Do as I say, not as I do!!LOL

It gets pretty wet here at times as I imagine it does there. High humidity. 52in rain/year. I found that I need to be careful to either plant my iris in a dry area like on the South side of the house or plant them slightly raised or on a slope for good drainage. I plant my iris with the top of the rhizome exposed to the sun (backs in the sun) and keep the mulch back away from my rhizomes. This works for me.

No, you should only put one rhizome per hole and plant them [I believe it is] 2ft apart unless you want to be digging them up soon/often to divide them. Mine are closer together due to space restrictions, but this means I will be out there digging and dividing sooner than I'd like.

As for your title question - re-blooming iris - from what I've seen, re-blooming iris don't always re-bloom. They may, but it depends on a number of factors. I have several re-blooming varieties and was most excited this fall/late summer when one of them finally rewarded me with a 2nd bunch of blooms (re-bloomed). Whether or not to opt for re-bloomers is a personal choice. I just chose the iris I like without regard to whether or not they are re-bloomers, but that is my preference.

rita,
most reblooming iris need a fairly long growing season, on average more than 100 days.
i tried to look up your region but the website i use for historic weather info is refusing to load tonight.

here's my three cents: try a couple of inexpensive but reliable rebloomers and see how they do for you in your region.
I would recommend 'Earl of Essex', 'Harvest of Memories' and 'Immortality'. All of these have been reported to be reblooming in zone 5. just remember that zones are based on low temperatures but it's the length of the growing season that matters most in terms of getting a rebloom on your iris.

So then if I understand correctly I should pick Iris reported to rebloom in the northern zones, like 5 and 6. I am in a zone 6 here.

As for the 2 feet apart, not here, not happening. I crowd everything I plant and it works just fine. Tall Beared Iris have the ugliest folliage and its folliage for most of the year. I want to hide as much as I can between the daylilies so its not as noticeable. If they multiple too much (my old ones never had a problem) I can alwas remove some.

Like I said, mine aren't anywhere near that far apart either, but I'm pretty sure that is what the grower recommended. I don't have that kind of space. They grow fine when closer together untill they get too overgrown. Then they stop blooming, and you have to dig and divide them.

I may be wrong, but I believe I have read that you do not want the rhiozome shaded by foliage from other plants. Any of the experienced iris growers out there, feel free to let us know your input.

there's about as many opinions on what's the best way to plant iris as there are gardeners.

i have dug them any time of the year, buried some under 6 inches of compost, threw others over the fence on the rocks (shh-don't tell), put some in the compost and others in a garbage bag and forgot them in the garage for almost 2 years. most of them still grew and bloomed.

this is my conclusion: the relationship between how an iris does for you is inversely proportional to how much you paid and value it.

ROTF. Love the conclusion.

That's probably why I buy the cheaper ones then, LOL. How I grow my irises is definitely contradictory to what the growers advise. But each of us needs to determine how best to grow them.

Mine are grown in with all the rest of my flowers. And their rhizomes get overrun all the time. And we are on sandy soil, so I just water and fertilize mine along with everything else. They get as much water and fertilizer as the siberians and the Japanese. A good soaking twice a week. And I have never had rot, or borers.

Anyone with any questions on how to grow irises properly can list their gardening conditions here, and some of the growers, like Dee, or Laurie, or if they are beardless, Pirl, Boojum or I can help.

Hi Newyorkrita,
I have daylilies and irises planted together but I do have them spaced well apart. As the irises do like to have the sun on the top part of their rhizomes They have special needs when planting them just like the daylilies. As stated about Irises do not like to stay wet for any length of time. They don't like mulch for the same reasons. Of course I don't live in New York and we don't get as cold here as ya'll do. But we plant our irises with about half of the rhizome exposed. Where as you need to cover the entire daylily. I've seen irises pulled up and tossed over the fence do better than the ones that were planted carefully in a prepared bed. The difference being they we not planted too deep and they got plenty of sun to the rhizomes.

Now for rebloomers, I say go for it. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Also if you don't like the way your iris leaves are looking after bloom time you can always give them a haircut. I personally enjoy seeing the tall iris leaves everywhere. I use to cut them back to keep everything clean and tidy looking. I have since given up that practice and more or less let everything grow where and how it wants to. Makes for a mix mash of colors, blooms, leaves, and textures.

Good luck with the irises and let us know how it turns out.
Happy Gardening, Marian

It took my re-bloomming irises three years before they were mature enough to re-bloom. WELL worth the wait!

Rita - I'm probably 80 miles east of you and here we're in zone 7. I crowd mine in and the best rebloomers for me are Mother Earth and Immortality. When they're under the pines, in soil that seems much less moist, they do better. Mother Earth is also in one of our gardens not covered by the irrigation system and they do best there.

I thought no iris would rebloom for me, but I was wrong -- most people say I am in zone 5a though I am on a mountain side and it is hard to know whether I am 5a, 5b, or 6. I plant iris because I liked them, not because they would rebloom, but I have had rebloom on IB Double Your Fun, SDB -- Elephant Footprint -- TB Romantic Evening -- and TB Sugar Blues -- and I wasn't even trying. So now I will give them some extra fertilizer and water after blooming and see if that increases the rebloom.

With extra water and fertilizer I get rebloom a few times on Elephant Footprints. What do you call that, everblooming or all season bloom or something like that? Funny thing is it seems to rebloom in sync with my Josee lilac that it's planted under. Josee is a rebloomer, reblooms about three to four times a year for me when pruned.

Wow! Sounds like I need Josee lilac as well.

Can you grow lilacs there? If so, definitely get Josee. After the first big flush of flowers, prune (all you really need to do is cut the old flowers off), and you will get three to four more flushes of bloom. Not as heavy, but still beautiful, and fragrant.

Josee is a three way cross between meyeri, patula and microphylla, so if you're familiar with any of those, they have small flowers as Josee does, and the fragrance is more spicy than the traditional lilac.

Lilacs and irises are my all time favorites. I have a collection of well over 100 lilac cultivars, all with irises under them. So don't get me started on lilacs.

Oh, wow! I had no idea. Lilacs grow great here. They are so easy to grow, I never really bothered with which variety to plant. The only time I bought specially colored ones -- wine, dark purple and white, from a local nursery, when they finally bloomed -- two or 3 years later, they were all common lavender lilacs. I went back with the original tags and they refused to make good. From now on I will only buy in bloom or from a reputable mail order nursery. Lilacs are heaven! I will find Josee somewhere reliable.

Rita, I have several reblooming Iris that dependably put out beautiful fall blooms. The only problem is that they are usually late fall bloomers and often the gorgeous tall swelling buds and stalks fall victim to an early freeze. Very disappointing. But sometimes the blooms come early enough to escape freezing. It is nice to have Iris at Halloween or later.

I would recommend Syringa Plus. I have purchased from there for years, and they are wonderful. Please tell them I recommended them to you. Polly @ Perennials Plus (my home nursery). If I could recommend another great lilac for you I would suggest Lilac Sunday. It's the most gorgeous lilac I've ever seen.

Dmail me if you ever have any questions about lilacs. I have studied those for years, also.

http://www.syringaplus.com/retail.htm

re-bloomers mean MORE IRIS FLOWERS through the year and that can't be a bad thing:) I have a lot of them and I tell you, most of the time there is always something blooming:)

You sould definitely try rebloomers if you are at all interested, but the more southerly climates get more rebloom than the northern ones. The Reblooming Iris Society -- a subgroup of AIS keeps track of what has rebloomed where. They have the info in a book and some of it on their website at:
http://www.rebloomingiris.com/
Many are listed. Good rule of thumb -- don't buy the iris because it is a rebloomer because you may not get rebloom from it. Buy it because you like it and if it reblooms -- so much the better.

newyorkrita, you know, if you really don't like the foliage, and irises are foliage for most of the year, why not try a Japanese or Siberian iris instead? some of them rebloom, and both love mulch! just get with polly above, she can tell you all about them, and she's in NY.
[I love the foliage of the bearded irises, its a structural/architectural interest sort of thing]

stormy, that's the problem with the reblooming for everyone if they rebloom late. here's what you do: if the bud is showing color and it's about to have a hard freeze, go out and cut your stalk. bring it indoors and set it where it gets some sunlight but wont' get too warm. it will slowly open bud after bud for you indoors! change the water it's in at a minimum of every other day. this is what the rest of us have to do. [two years ago, I had irises as my Thanksgiving centerpiece!] i put some aspirin in the water, too

Polly, you little devil, lilacs are just too wonderful NOT to have in your garden, we have 4 different ones, I just wish they bloomed longer, as they are fragrant. Every year, I try to get to Hulga Lilac gardens in WA as there they have 100's of varieties and it is so wonderful to walk into the garden and smell that fragrance, then I always cut huge bouquets for inside. I will have to look the webpage and Josee...

I have quite a few rebloomers and the best thing I can recommend is if you are in a shorter zone and truly want to have reblooming, the best way is to buy iris that are listed as E and a RE that way you have a fighting chance they will rebloom. Remember to remove the first stock and fertilize right after bloom as this gives the rhizome the needed food to rebloom. Another great rebloomer almost every were is "JULY YELLOW".

On iris mixed into your regular beds and not a special bed, there are only a couple of plants that have been a pain here and they are the viola that has the rhizome(?) and wild strawberries case a mat that has killed a few of my iris when not watched.

In my front bed that is quote what I call my bulb/bird bed. tulips, muscarii, daffs, lilies, iris, JI, Siberians, glads and plants for the birds to have for food and shelter...annuals in there as well...So the iris seem to always grow well no matter where I put them

I have only had one iris bit the dust and it was totally my fault and that was a species that should have been planted in part shade and not full sun...

Hope this helps all, if you have a question direct to me I will do my level best to reply the same day until digging season.

D

Glad to be able to help you possibly spend more of your hard earned money, Dee :)

Good advice. I will look for reblooming irises that say early. I never even thought about that, but it makes sense.

The early first bloom gives the rebloom more chance to rebloom...I truly do not get alot of rebloom with digging them all and replanting them all in Sept...so I only receive the really early rebloom.

This year in one area I got rebloom on 90% of things listed as rebloom and a nice surprise on one of the iris I am thinking of introducing it rebloomed.

Well now must look for one maybe two more lilacs and this year will miss the Hulga Lilac gardens because I will be judging a show.

Darn and double darn...

D

you did mean to remove the stalk, not the stock, right, Dee? LOL

if I remove the "stock" there's nothing there!

I would KILL to have fragrant lilacs here. I've got one elcheapo growing in a bad place, needs transplanting now. will see if I get any fragrance. have never seen/smelled fragrant lilacs around here. LOVE them, had them in NY, MA, ID, and WA, but not here. they don't like our humid long summers.

I'm allergic to most lilac, may not be to some of the newer hybrids without much pollen. Have to make do with the viburnums. They were here before we built the house anyway.

and you have awesome lilacs in MA, irisMA! LOL I went to school in the Boston area and still remember them.

Thank goodness I am NOT allergeric to them as that would make me very unhappy indeed Lacy..

Bonita LOL stock NO but remove the STALK...LOL

You caught me for sure.

Well off to the grocery store as making some yummies for dinner....

D

well, you're the expert Dee, just wanted to make sure I knew what to do ^_^

Arnold Arboretum has a lilac walk each spring. Needless to say, I have never been to it.

where is arnold a?

Thanks everyone for lots of helpful advice. I am starting to make a list of Iris known to rebloom in zone 6 or up so that I should get a decent chance of getting something to rebloom. Its not as if I don't have lots of other plants and flowers in the garden, so there will always be color. I just want to get the most out of my plantings.

When I got into daylilies I foolishly bought ones listed as reblooming and did not realize that just because they rebloom down south, does not mean they rebloom up north. Learned quickly and now I buy northern reblooming daylilies from northern hybridizers.

So with the Iris, I know I needed to get information before buying to avoid the same pitfall as I had in my first daylilies. Of course, the daylilies are stunning when they bloom, rebloom or not and I am sure that the bearded iris will be too.

As too the question of getting Siberian Iris or Japanese Iris instead of TB, I want to get some of those also but for a daylily bed. I love the flowers on beared iris, even if I am not crazy about the looks of the folliage. So I plan to go with TB iris in a longer very narrow bed in the very front of my yard. Good sun there and well draining soil. The section is so narrow it will be easy to not mulch or just use alittle hardwood mulch betwen plants. I thought a lot about the foilliage of TB and also on the fact that I might have only spring color on them so I came up with a great idea. I will interspace some hummingbird mint in there stagged between the iris. It blooms all summer until frost so there will be color and it will hide or soften the looks of the iris folliage.

Meanwhile I am also trying to learn some about Siberian Iris to put in my backyard in amoungst the daylilies.

Ask Polly about the Siberians...

D

well, one thing I can tell you about the bog iris, Japanese iris, and Siberian iris is that they all look 10 times better in the garden than their photos can show, in my opinion. there's just something about how graceful they grow, a camera can't capture that.

Starting my list of reblooming TB with PINK ATTRACTION. Keeping in mind that I am in zone 6, what are some more must have rebloomers for me? Thanks.

PA rebloomed for us. Try white, Immortality & yellow Harvest Memories.

Go for it!!! Thats what I do, depending on your time and interest. When it comes to a rebloomer, buy all the beautiful varieties you like. Either way you are going to have increaible blooms in the spring and then you will be surprised by those that bloom for fall!

I am in zone 5 or 6 depending on who you ask. I have had rebloom on Romantic Evening, Zurich ( but it got nipped by frost), Elephant Footprints, and Double Your Fun. Lots on Double Your Fun!