Bearded Iris 2007 to 2009

[Lesley Cox]

Three from the SH page,


Don't know the name of this rather nice yellow. A good bright spot in the garden.


'Sky Drops' on which the sky has dropped. This one is just 6cms high.


'Scribe' which I think would make a nice companion with your 'Face Paint' Fermi.

[Joakim B]

Nice little beauties.
I actually have a bud coming in Portugal but I do not think it is a re-bloomer bat rather a bit messed up by moving and changes in weather. The iris are going dormant here now and losing foliage.

Do people get re-blooming and if so how do they do. Is it enough to have a Mediterranean type of climate or do they need extra water or extra food or what? I believe it is not easy to get re-blooming in Northen Europe but some of the sellers/breeders are French and they report of re-blooming.

All the best
Joakim

[Hristo]

Super Beardies all, great to see em again!
Joakim, had one attack of re-flowering in early August from TBI 'Tumulteux',
only oine that re-bloomed, no obvious reason!

[Lesley Cox]

Joakim, I may be wrong here bu my understanding is that reblooming is not something that the gardener can arrange or encourage. It is somehow in the breeding of the particular variety and so some vars re-bloom and others (the vast majority) don't. The term applied is "remontant" so if an iris is listed as remontant, you can expect it to rebloom very late summer or autumn. It mostly applies to tall bearded though I daresay breeders of smaller kinds are heading in that direction nowadays. The only dwarf bearded I know that reblooms is a very old purple form called 'The Gem,' bred by the late Mrs Jean Stevens in New Zealand, many years ago.

[Joakim B]

Lesley I should have said that I meant the re-blooming or remontant mostly for the big TBI. I know that the plant need to have "it" but that, that is just the first step, the second to have conditions to make it re-bloom. Those conditions is what I am not so sure about.
I will have my eyes open to try to get "Gem" if it is available here.

All the best
Joakim

[Lesley Cox]

In my experience of remontant varieties, they need the same conditions as they have during their "normal" flowering. If they have good light and drainage and perhaps some lime, they'll bloom well on both times. what I'm trying to say is that whatever the right conditions are in your garden for the first blooming, the same will be right for the second.

[Joakim B]

Thanks Lesley
The first (and so far only) blooming is in May-June and by then there have been some rain but after that it can be dry almost into September so I wonder if they should have an extra feeding after first flowering and also some water some times? The iris I have might not be re-bloomers (remontant to me is so connected with roses that I use the other word that I think I have seen at an iris site, it might be an invented word, but I like it) but I am not sure I have got the optimum flowering from my plants. They grow OK but have taken quite a wile to adapt to their new place. They do get a lot of sun and it is well drained, maybe to well drained? In Sweden it was never any problem with iris needing water as it was provided from above so one only needed to have good drainage. In Portugal I have the feeling that they need additional water in the summer.

So do You or Paul water the irises in the summer or do they get almost dry conditions. I am thinking on the taller irises rather than the dwarf. I have the feeling that the weather is similar with temps of 30C with high 35C as top going to 40C only at some summers.

Kind regards
Joakim

[Hristo]

Lesley, Joakim, do you find your second blooming is as strong as the first?
From my memory the second blooming here was on a shorter stem with only two flowers.

[Joakim B]

Chris I have never had a second blooming of the irises but was also surprised that the second was as good as the first.
I hope we here the trick.
Kind regards
Joakim

[Hristo]

Interesting Joakim, I know some of my more recent beardies from Cayeux are supposed to be remontant so I guess I shall see how they perform in the coming year when they flower for the first time!
Regards
Chris

[Paul T]

Joakim,

Mine get watering year around, the difference being that there is so much more evaporation during summer so they are much drier then.  They flower well, so having summer watering does not seem to be a problem.  I should definitely feed mine more, which would improve things too I am sure. 

[Lesley Cox]

Chris I only have a couple of remontant vars so probably am not too well versed in what they should do but I think that with ample water through the summer and perhaps a liquid feed, they should flower as well as the first time round. I remember seeing a pink var last year in someone's garden, flowering in April,(Oct, to you) and it had strong stems with 4 or 5 flowers on each.

Having said that, to answer Joakim, in general I wouldn't water any beared iris from any group after it had flowered but let the rhizomes dry off. If I divide, it is soon after flowering and then reset them in the ground but without water until the new roots have started. Of course they may well get some rain which I wouldn't protect them from. Many iris growers would say that if your climate is damp and cool you should set the rhizomes higher, or even on top of the ground, lower and buried if the climate is hotter/drier. I'd be inclined to go for some lime rather than other fertilizers and probably never a high nitrogen fertilizer.

[arillady]

I am pretty sure there is a remontant section within the American Iris Society if you want to search further.

[arilnut]

Here is the link                   http://www.rebloomingiris.com/

John

[arillady]

Thanks John for the link.