REB: My thoughts on rebloom

I am a fairly new irisarian and I thought I'd give my two cents on rebloom:
Our house is on a 1/4 acre lot which is large enough to grow a lot of stuff, but not large enough to grow everything that I'd like (irises and other plants).
So, when I first started buying and planting large amounts of iris in earnest, I saw some varieties labeled as "Re-bloomers". I thought "Why waste space on irises that only bloom May-June when I could have irises that bloom May-Oct? I should buy lots of re-bloomers." And so I did.
But, I've only got re-bloom stalk on UNBELIEVABLE LOVE, QUEEN DOROTHY, HEMSTITCHED, and CLARENCE. The first two were frost-bitten, but they did bloom. The latter did not make it through the first freeze. That's because they didn't start to put out bloom stalks until late October or November. Rebloom after mid-October is essentially a negative. It would be better not to re-bloom at all.
Re-bloom is only a good thing if it occurs July-September. I personally think it's a bit of false advertising to call something that blooms in the late fall a "re-bloomer". It might be OK for gardeners in California or Arizona, but it's not really accurate or desirable for those of us in the northeast or midwest.
I have not completely given up on re-bloomers. I still hope to see some more legitimate re-bloom on some of what I have once the clumps are more mature. But going forward, it won't be a major criterion for my purchases like it was initially. 

-Matt Booker
Melrose, Massachusetts
Zone 6

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index