Re: RE: HYB: Great times for breeding rebloomers - long!

In a message dated 12/10/2006 11:05:13 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
ChatOWhitehall@aol.com writes:


<<I've been pondering this story since you told it. It  bothers me,  Betty.

They are giving them up solely because they  don't get repeat  bloom? Is the 
difference in attractiveness with the  once bloomers to  which they would 
have 
access considered so marked  that these  irises must go if they won't  
rebloom? >>
 
These are comparatively new members (last six to eight years) and  initially 
they liked the rebloomers, and collected them.  In 2004 they  waxed 
enthusiastic about all the great rebloom they had.  They would hunt  me up at activities 
to issue reports.  One reported that Returning  Chameleon (mine) bloomed 
almost all summer!  In 2005 they complained that  little was reblooming.  And by 
late July 2006 they were ready to dig  them.  (Two different members, both 
men.) 
 
Must have something to do with unrealistic expectations??
 
If I grew rebloomers for personal pleasure, and oncers to show?  Would  I 
quit growing early blooming rebloomers, if they didn't rebloom?  In favor  of 
more irises that I could show?  Possibly.  
 
Anything I can come up with is pure speculation at this point.  I can  only 
add things I know to be fact.  
 
Most of the club activities revolve around the show.  Both of these  growers 
also show.  Most rebloomers bloom too early for the spring  shows.  Is this a 
factor?  Maybe.  
 
In addition, most of the people in my club do not favor rebloomers.   
Northern rebloomers (zones 6-4) rarely show up at our spring shows.   Therefore, they 
rarely show up on the "Queens" table.  (AIS officials  please forgive the 
term!) As a judge I do know better!  
 
The display bed is kept . . . primarily so the club can sell rhizomes to  
support the shows and any other club projects.  At one time, I was on  the garden 
committee.  That's how the rebloomers got there in the  beginning.  For 
years, I reported rebloom from the garden.  Many have  since been removed. 
 
Poor growing cultivars either die or are removed from the garden.  The  
garden contains a row of northern rebloomers because people in the  community like 
them and will buy them.  Many have learned to check the  display garden each 
fall for rebloom and make their lists accordingly.  
 
Once a rebloomer, or any iris, falls from the sale list it loses favor with  
the garden committee and will eventually leave the garden, with a few obvious  
exceptions. A cultivar usually falls from the garden list for one  of two 
reasons.  Either no one likes them, or everyone has them  already.  The latter is 
often the case with both oncers and  rebloomers.  
 
The general public is intrigued with the rebloomers.  Thirty cultivars  of 
Summer Radiance were sold from the display garden this year.  In part,  because 
the local Master Gardeners group fell in love with it and I didn't have  
enough to share.  
 
Rebloomers require a little extra care to bloom with an regularity.   Even 
then they can miss during a bad year.  Like this year.  If I  weren't breeding 
my own, with some success, I wouldn't have been too happy with  rebloom being 
cut off in mid-Oct. this year.  
 
I'll ask my iris friends for more details on why they are giving up their  
rebloom rows!  
 
 
________________________________________________________
Betty W.  in South-central KY Zone 6 ---If you don't cross them, you can't 
plant them!  
Bridge In Time Iris Garden@website:
Where the seeds are in the pots once  again! 
_www.thegardensite.com/irises/bridgeintime/_ 
(http://www.thegardensite.com/irises/bridgeintime/) 
_Reblooming Iris - Home Page_ (http://www.rebloomingiris.com/)  
_iris-photos archives_ (http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/)  
_iris-talk archives_ (http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/)  
_AIS: American Iris Society website_ (http://www.irises.org/)   

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