Re: Rebloomers

To John Jones: 

Guess what? I checked my SDB rebloomers today & 2 of them (Jewel Baby & 
Little Showoff) which both bloomed for the first time 2 weeks ago & 
which I deadheaded when these first flower heads faded as instructed re 
Tip sheet from nursery.....are forming new flower buds inside the old 
sockets! Swear it's true. Jewel Baby also has a separate flower on the 
same stalk which opened yesterday. 

Now I'm more confused than ever. I'm defining the socket as that papery 
thingy (calyx?) that sort of wraps around the base of the flower where 
it attaches to the stalk. Would you agree with definition/description or 
am I misunderstanding something? Maybe I need a better definition of 
Reblooming Iris????   Marte in the mtns, puzzled


> > Marte Halleck wrote: 
> >
> > Have a question for y'all -- as you may recall, I planted my first
> > "rebloomers" last year & the SDB's have been blooming well for me, TB's
> > nicely budded out. The nursery tip-sheet I got with the rz says: "do not
> > break off the sockets or the stalk at bloom completion as is done with
> > oncers. Rebloomers...tend to rebloom from the same sockets..."
> 
> John I Jones wrote:
> 
> If I were given that "Tip" sheet, I would take back to the nursery, find
> the manager and explain to him that maybe on some other planet that is
> how it works, but not on this one, and that if that is the quality of
> the advice he gives out, he desparately needs help.
> 
> The socket is the spot along the stalk where the bloom forms. Rebloomers
> form completely new stalks to bloom from, they don't rebloom in the same
> socket.
> 
> NOW, what may be confusing, is that many irises today (at least TBs) are
> "double or triple" socketed. This means that the same socket may produce
> a second or third bloom, one following the other, in the same season.
> This is not reblooming as it is defined in irisdom. Reblooming occurs
> after the rz has had time to recover its strength from the first bloom
> period, and puts up a new stalk from a separate increase. Not all (in
> fact only a small subset) irises rebloom, but most that you get these
> days will provide at least two flowers in the same socket. You can feel
> the second bloom forming at the base fo the first one if you gently
> squeeze the base of the socket, and you do want to be careful breaking
> off the first bloom after it has faded. Hold the second bud and gently
> bend the first bloom away from the socket. Sometimes the second bloom
> will open before the first has faded, but I think this is considered a
> flaw.
> 
> I am not sure that all the above about double socketing applies to SDBs
> because I can't grow them here, but I guarantee that even reblooming
> SDBs throw a new stalk to rebloom.
> 
> John                     | "There be dragons here"
>                          |  Annotation used by ancient cartographers
>                          |  to indicate the edge of the known world.
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