Showing posts with label Again & Again. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Again & Again. Show all posts

Monday, July 11, 2016

Late Stalks: Rebloom Breeding in zone 6A

By Betty Wilkerson

Welcome to my garden.  I'm in Kentucky, zone 6.  Once again, it's been a crazy, crazy spring.  We had some really nice days during the last half of winter.  Good days to clean the iris beds and get ready for spring.  This is when it started getting crazy!  I suspect it was Mother Nature in stress mode, but maybe it was just the irises acting weird.  

Just a few days into the bloom season, it looked like a lot of the early things would not bloom!  Then, stalks started to spring up, or so it seemed, on the ones that should have bloomed earlier.  Everything was out of sequence.  However, it did make rebloom crossing easier because more flowers were blooming at the same time.  

At the end of bloom season, the inevitable depression set in.  It's generally over for another year (except for rebloom). Then I noticed extra stalks showing up. There were a couple on some of the new reblooming seedlings, and one on a slightly older seedling from rebloom breeding lines!

There's one on 'Cameo Blush,' and one on 'Over and Over.' 'Silver Dividends' also put up a stalk but with only two blooms.  (No other introduced irises bloomed at this time.)


'Cameo Blush' (Weiler by Friendship 1998)

'Over & Over' (Innerst 2003)  

Two of the seedlings from 'Tara's Choice' X 'Again & Again' put up stalks. The yellow one, 2152-02re, has cycle  rebloomed in the past and is in my older reselect bed with 2 stalks up.  2152-03 is from my previous "baby" bed and was not seen before.  It wasn't great.  No, I don't always plant all of a given cross at the same time. It depends on space and time, and what I want to see, but these were pretty and several rebloomed, so I planted all of them.


One of my disappointments has been 2527, a cross with 'All Revved Up' & X 'Lunar Whitewash.' 'All Revved Up' can bloom all summer and 'Lunar Whitewash' is a good cycle rebloomer, so I'd hoped for some type of rebloom, with good form.  I got form but none have rebloomed, yet. It was a bit surprising when some of these seedlings started putting up late stalks.


2527-05 ('All Revved Up' X 'Lunar Whitewash') 


2527-01 ('All Revved Up' X 'Lunar Whitewash)


2527-05 ('All Revved Up' x 'Lunar Whitewash')


 The latest developing stalks were 2145-01 ('Pure as Gold' X 'Summer Radiance') and 2603-04, a dark one from ('Lunar Whitewash' X Romantic Evening') X 'Over and Over.' A large group of 2145-01 crosses bloomed and were photographed in the spring, while 2603-04 did not bloom in the spring and this is my first time to see it.

2145-01 ('Pure as Gold' X 'Summer Radiance')


2603-04 (('Lunar Whitewash' x 'Romantic Evening') X 'Over and Over')


With three exceptions, all of the surprise reblooming has been on my seedlings which have at least one rebloom parent. My theory, and it's just a theory, is that I should take this as a signal that, if not rebloom, they have some type of "loosy-goosy" genes that allows later bloom.  One thing for sure, they don't put up these late stalks every year. Come to me, my favored children!

You've had another peek into the strange habits of mother nature as she works in and around Bridge In Time Iris Gardens.  For further reading about reblooming irises, visit the Reblooming Iris Society site  or subscribe to "The Recorder" through the website.


Monday, April 13, 2015

Reblooming Irises in Zone 6:Cheerleading

by Betty Wilkerson

Here in my zone 6b garden, it is time to consider making new reblooming iris crosses.  Rebloomers are great for producing splashes of color in the summer and fall, but the breeding is best done in the spring, since summer can be too hot and fall pods often are frost damaged. Reblooming irises usually bloom during the first week of spring iris season.  Sometimes these early blooms will look fine, but will not produce any pods, since the early frost can wipe out the pollen. Be patient.  The pollen will return to normal in a few days.  In all crosses, including rebloom crosses, always use the healthiest and strongest irises available.

My friend in California has a full bed of irises that bloom all summer.  Why won't those irises rebloom for me here in zone 6?  It's both easier & harder than it might sound. The experts tell us they .don't have the genes needed to bloom in zone 6, most years.  Weather is definitely a factor, since some of these will rebloom occasionally, when the weather is mild.

I read through about ten of my old rebloom reports.  Keep in mind that there hasn't been a lot of work on rebloomers for our zones or area in the past twenty years. In the twelve years I've been at my current location, we've had a couple of mild summers, and here is a list of irises that summer bloomed for me during that time: 'Pure As Gold,' 'October Sky,' 'Lord of Rings,' 'Violet Miracle,' 'Feed Back,' 'Immortality,' 'Pink Attraction,' 'Again and Again,' 'Lunar Whitewash,' 'Over and Over,' 'All Revved Up,' 'Echo Location,' 'Returning Chameleon,' 'Cool Character,' ''Summer Honey 'and 'Summer Radiance.'  Most of these are fairly old when it comes to irises.  When we have a mild summer, with temperatures primarily in the high eighties and low nineties, we can expect a little bloom through out the summer.


'Pink Attraction'' (E. Hall 1988) photo from Schreiner's website.

'Pure As Gold' (Maryott 1993)

Due to their genes, all rebloomers are not equal.  'Pink Attraction' likes to be moved every two years, in order to rebloom well, and does not create rebloom children in my zone 6 garden. Two of my rebloomers that can bloom in the summer and also create a lot of reblooming children, are 'All Revved Up' and 'Star Gate.' When combined with other rebloomers, they do well.  Some feel that crossing the well formed irises that rebloom in California, and other temperate climates, does nothing to help us in the search for better form in the colder regions.


'All Revved Up' (Wilkerson 2006)
'Star Gate' (Wilkerson 2005)

'Echo Location'
is a very good rebloomer here and also produces reblooming children.  It might be a good iris to use toward breeding reds, since it has a lot of red blood lines from the Gibson side. These three, are all good for breeding reblooming plicatas.  Even though it doesn't looik plicata, 'Star Gate' has a lot of plicata blood and does breed some plicata.  'Star Gate' and 'Echo Location' are both examples of hidden plicatas.  Neither is a noticable plicata.  I hope to produce a good red on yellow plicata.with rebloom.

'Echo Location' (Wilkerson 2007)


There are three possible bloom seasons for rebloomers:spring, summer, and fall.  Some of us in the colder, roller coast zones have started working on summer rebloomers, giving us a better chance of seeing iris bloom during the years we have difficult spring and fall weather. Others don't want summer bloom for a variety of reasons. I'm not going to tell you how to create the best iris that both reblooms and meets all of the characteristics the American Iris Society requires for a spring bloomer. If I knew how to do this, I would have done it already!  I've come close but no brass ring!  

'Summer Honey' (Wilkerson 2013)
'Summer Honey' (Wilkerson 2013)
Crossing my plicata children onto my self children created 'Summer Honey.'  Several others from the cross, including some reddish seedlings , did rebloom.  I've been really impressed with the stalks still standing on 'Summer Honey' once the frost hit in mid october.

What cross would you make this spring in an attempt to promote rebloom in the colder zones?

Monday, December 30, 2013

Strong Reblooming Irises Hybridized by Sterling Innerst


Again and Again

by Betty Wilkerson

When you breed for rebloomers, or any specific type of iris, there is a constant search for irises that can contribute to your program.  Several of Sterling Innerst's earlier introductions rebloom in the warmer climates seven through ten.  Most do not give good rebloom in zones 6 or lower. When compared to the total volume of his tall bearded introductions, his contribution to colder climate rebloomers has been limited, but very important.

In the last ten years, or so, of his active hybridizing career, Sterling worked very hard to develop reliable rebloomers.  It takes a while for the good and bad points of rebloomers to become known.  By the time we get the full picture they have been grown in several parts of the country.  Several years ago, I purchased a few of Sterling Innerst irises reported to rebloom in colder zones, below zone 6b. 

'Again and Again' (Innerst 1999) 

Another angle of the same bloom.  
My introduction to ‘Again and Again’ (Innerst 1999) came with a July visit to the Iris Display Garden in Bowling Green KY.  I believe the year was 2005.  It was love at first sight!  The stalk was a bit short and the bloom nestled down near the foliage, but it was awesome, reminding me of white, pale yellow, and light brown tulle that I’d sewn in earlier days.  Simply divine!  I drove home and immediately put in an order for 'Again and Again' from Schreiners.  


Same clump in 2012
Sterling crossed ‘Renown,’ (Lloyd Zurbrigg 1992) reported to be a good cold climate rebloomers, with pollen from Ben Hager’s ‘Anxious.’ This produced ‘Again and Again’ (Innerst 1999) which was the first of a trio of very good rebloomers Sterling introduced.  It is now 15 years old and has been grown throughout the country.  I can only speak for how it has grown in my garden.  The pictures shown here are pictures taken in my garden in the spring of 2010 and 2012. 

When crossed with some of my own, 'Again and Again' produced a couple of rebloomers.  If everything goes well, I will use it more. It's not a perfect rebloomer in my garden, nor has it been a perfect rebloom parent, but it is definitely a good tool.  Do you grow any of Sterling Innerst's irises in your garden?