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.

What if? Reblooming Iris Breeding in Zone 6:KY

by Betty Wilkerson

My current goal, for breeding better rebloomers in my garden, is to use a handful of good looking seedlings as pod parents.  Two of my introductions, which I plan to use for this purpose, are 'All About Tranquility' and 'About Tomorrow.'  'All About Tranquility' is 'Chinese New Year' X 'Theme Master.'  The color pattern is one of my favorites and the branching is very good. 'About Tomorrow' also has great form and branching. It is from 'Treasured' x 'Renown.'

'All About Tranquility' (Wilkerson 2011)

 'All About Tranquility' was growing at the UT West Tennessee Research and Education Center in Jackson, Tennessee in a bed maintained by JAIS.  Photo shared by Sue Ann Barnes former Region 7 RVP.

'About Tomorrow' (Wilkerson 2011)

Below are some of the seedlings I would like to use with the above pod parents.  Some have been used and others will be if things ever fall into place.  Sometimes Mother Nature steps in and stops your best plans.  Buds are frozen back. Pollen isn't fertile.  Seed rot.  Many things can happen to thwart your plans, but most of the crosses have around a 50 % chance of taking.                                                                                         

'1605-02re' (Wilkerson seedling)

I've used fall or cycle rebloomers with some of the summer rebloomers.  1605-02Re is such a fall rebloomer, and these are the irises represented:  0915-01:(((Victoria Falls x Vanity) x Immortality) x Love Lines) X 1025-03 (Feed Back x Champagne Elegance).

2410 (Wilkerson seedlings) 

'2410'contained several tall seedlings with a variety of colors, white, purple, and bitone blue.  1624-01re ('Sweet Addiction) is ('Star Gate' x ('Bridge In Time' x ('Feed Back' x 'Titan's Glory))) X 2019-05 (Lunar Whitewash x Romantic Evening). Both seedlings used in this cross were white.  

1907-10Re (Wilkerson seedling)  

This seedling is the strongest rebloomer from 1907 ('Blatant' x 'All Revved Up').  This cross produced several rebloomers, two summer bloomed.  'Cool Character' was introduced from this cross.  

Rebloom breeding is more difficult than trying to improve a color or pattern.  On the plus side, you are already dealing with strong, healthy plants.  Always a good thing.

What would you use with these in an attempt to create good rebloom in the inner continental areas?