Re: REB: surprising result - genetics
iris@hort.net
  • Subject: Re: REB: surprising result - genetics
  • From: P* <4*@rewrite.hort.net>
  • Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 21:00:05 -0400
Finally getting around to a response to an old thread. How interesting. As said by you folks, rebloom is more than hardiness zone for sure. Linda in z7b was waiting on the cultivars below to bloom as of Sept. 9. Betty in z6b never sees rebloom until after mid Sept.. Me in z6b, 1 y.o. clumps rebloom starts this year: 
Violet Miracle        Sept 22
Perfume Counter    Aug 21 & nice show by early Sept
Matrix                        Aug 27
Harvest of Memories    Aug 31
New cultivars to me so only one year's data. We've had fairly typical rain all summer and heat except for July being weirdly cool all month. I don't really fuss over the rebloomers to coax bloom - a little fertilizer in late summer. But I did soak water well once in mid Aug during a brief dry spell. And my soil is iris friendly clay loam.
Being in the mountains we, at my elevation, have lower summer daily highs/lows than zone 6 in the flatlands. Above 90 degrees is uncommon. Soil temps would be lower here, esp this year considering July. Which raises the question, is the "heat" zone, how hot it gets, as relevant as the hardiness zone? The at odds issue being warmer Linda gets bloom before Betty. Now only miles away in the valley, Asheville is a solid Z7a. (My winter lows are 4-8 degrees colder.) I can grow KY bluegrass well and they can't.
A bit of a tickle, actual plant hardiness is not as easy as knowing your USDA hardiness zone. I grow a number of things that aren't supposed to be hardy here and some that are supposed to be hardy aren't. And we expect rebloom to be any different? 

Shaub

On 9/10/2014 12:45 PM, Betty Wilkerson wrote:

Here, in my zone 6b garden, I NEVER get fall rebloom on these irises until at
least Sept 15th, but most likely Oct. 1.


<<I'm still waiting for the main
crop of 'early' fall rebloomers (Violet
Miracle, Perfume Counter, Matrix,
Harvest of Memories etc) to start
sending up stalks - plenty of mature fans,
coolest temperatures on
record off and on this summer, but very dry until the
last week or so.
I suspect if the predicted cooler temps next week show up
(lowering evap
& transpiration rate), combined with rain last week, they will
be ready >>
to start stalking soon.

http://www.avast.com

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