Reblooming Culture
Re-blooming Iris: An iris that blooms in the spring and again in the same growing season. Judge’s Handbook, American Iris Society.
The Reblooming Iris Society, a section of the AIS, has attempted to classify reblooming iris according to behavior patterns in the growing season. There are basically four distinguishable behavior patterns in modern reblooming iris.
- Rebloomers (cyclic rebloomers), the standard for this group, are cultivators which complete two distinct cycles of bloom. After the spring flowering, there is a second predictable period of bloom.
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- Continuous or ever blooming Iris send up bloom stalks repeatedly at any time throughout the growing season, spring to summer and fall.
- Repeaters produce additional bloom stalks with unpredictable regularity immediately following the initial Spring bloom season, It is not uncommon for these varieties to extend the spring bloom season from four to eight weeks.
- Occasional rebloomers (sometimes called sporadic) are varieties which unpredictably produce bloom stalks at variable times during the growing season. Many occasional rebloomers perform well on the west coast and the southern areas of the United states. While they are highly regarded there, they may not show reblooming tendencies in colder climates.
‘Mariposa Skies’ TB/Re – photo courtesy of Mary Platner