This mislabeled NOID (possibly Cameo Wine) is blooming in the middle of summer.

Beautiful Iris, Lola. I can't wait for mine to start blooming come May. That is still a long way off. Thanks for starting this new Iris thread.

Lola - thanks for starting the year off!

Yes, Congrats Lola!!! May 2022 bring you (and all of us). Many more beautiful blooms!!!

'cozy cotton'. opening today
sutton

'carpe diem' same stalk that first open on 12/18/21
long, long bloom time. i don't think that i've ever had one stalk bloom, for that length of time. (wow!) this may be the last flower.

I was wondering if any one here has some experience growing Japanese Irises ( I.ensata). This is my third season with no blooms yet. They were started from a mixed source of seeds. So none are named varieties. Normally, when I'm a newbie with a particular group, I don't try out bought rhyzomes. They are expensive and not necessarily they will thrive in my conditions ( of course because of my lack of understanding them). Mine are now in grow bags or small 3 inch pots. Of these a few are kind of wanting to go go dormant: That is the top growth is going brown. Do JP go dormant in mid summer like some other irises do and make a comeback early fall? ( i.e Louisianas). TYiA for any advice.
Arturo

Arturo, everywhere I have seen them growing (The National Arboretum, Longwood Gardens, Brookside Gardens) they have always been immersed at the edge of ponds, or in large pots sunk in pond water.

Google "ensata," and then switch your browser to images, and I think you'll see the same thing. I know there is at least one person here growing them in a non-pond environment. I'm betting they die after about three years in such a case.

Arturo, here's an example: https://www.google.com/search?...

Here's a nice video of a garden for Japanese irises as grown in Japan:
https://youtu.be/QtEP2LQraV0

@DaisyDo. My pots have underground water. They sit inside a wet/ or almost pond situation. From what I've read they take a rest after bloom. They do dislike permanent inside water condition. In Japan ( from what I've watched) they are grown inside large flattish containers that they move around. They aren't placed in permanent pond environment. In winter they should be kept above the water line. They seem to withstand frost easily if kept on the drier side then. The brims of the pots can be seen easily in your lovely video that you shared!
I just found this AIS webinar video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
as of 51: onwards there is quite a few tid-bits about growing them. btw. this webinar is very recent, uploaded only ten days ago.
Perhaps what you have read/witnessed is the effect of a toxic chemical that has to be removed every 3 years if left in ground or in pots without change of soil. This I just learnt from the video.
So the solution to my seedlings is frequent repotting! with plenty of well aged barn manure ( almost half of the pot) of which I collect daily in huge quantities
Well like in every garden endeavour there are dots that one needs to connect to get it right. This has really made my day and just want to because I was able to make progress...

Arturo

PS. Just went out and checked all of my ensatas! Most are doing great. Chad Harris suggests to repot them every year. So that's exactly what I did. I did add a generous 2" on top of barn manure for the few that were already in larger grow bags. They are now happy sitting in a puddle...

We have grown siberians here, not JPs. However they both like asidic soil. Listen to anything that Chad Harris says; he has a fantastic Japanese iris garden.

Thanks for the link, Arturo! I watched the whole video, and it gave a wealth of information. I think the big takeaway is that Japanese iris can't be given too much water, but like to have their crowns set just above waterline. The information about the way these irises need water to be constantly flushing away their toxic pheromones explains why Brookside Gardens sculpted their man made ponds with steep banks so that rainwater comes down those banks flushing the irises they have set at the water's edge. As far as I know those irises have never needed to be reset, and have been there for at least 50 years now. I suspect that if you searched for wild japanese irises in Japan you would most likely find them growing at the base of steep banks at the water's edge. The steep banks would give the rainwater flushing action that they need.

irisarian said: We have grown siberians here, not JPs. However they both like asidic soil. Listen to anything that Chad Harris says; he has a fantastic Japanese iris garden.

Lucy for chiming in! Yes I have a acidic natural soil here around ph6 , sometimes even slightly lower, so
both Siberians ( which I'm also a newbie too) and these ensatas ought to grow well. I've visited Harris site and listen to whatever he has to say! He obviously knows about his stuff more than all of us pooled together!
After following his advice about my ensatas I'll pot up my sibs and also a species iris: Iris maackii from seeds that my friend @Serjio sent me.

Although its not a pseudata, I do hope one day to cross these with some ensata. Some consider it a just a variant of pseudacorus. The good side of this : it is not invasive like its close relative.
Arturo

Arturo, it sounds as though youhave both the water and pH requirements, so full speed ahead with your ensata seedlings. I hope you end up with some new beauties!

DaisyDo said: Arturo, it sounds as though youhave both the water and pH requirements, so full speed ahead with your ensata seedlings. I hope you end up with some new beauties!

Meanwhile once I understand how to grow them fully, then I can get registered cultivars. Not that many down here and quite expensive. The full cycle will be complete when I make myself new hybrids. I pray that I reach that goal...
I do hope to see first blooms next November/ December ( ). They will sure be new varieties since they do not come true to seed. Even if they are any of the existing types I'll be more than happy! From there on I can start considering a much wider diversity. My property has a low lying silted-in bog area that is now the meadow where my sheep graze. That area used to get flooded in winter. Re-creating parts of it again like bog is not thus a major endeavour. I'm also dreaming of open water ponds filled with waterlilies... Yes Monet's Giverny oil paintings have haunted me since my student years in NYC. The hall at the MOMA that I visted then, dedicated to them is mesmerizing. However I still prefer the real living stuff over a painting.
Crazy as I am, my present experiments are in the dry part just outside my home entrance. So here I'm using the pond lining method to keep my water irises happy...


Arturo

Daphne: Ahh Cozy Cotton was saying Happy Valentines Day!!!

Arturo: Leslie seems to be talented about growing JP's Hopefully she can provide you some tips.

My mislabeled NOID (possibly Cameo Wine) is still going strong after 4 weeks. She had 9 flower spikes that were packed with blooms and I have been snapping them off as they finish. I hadn't counted on her re-blooming at the same time as the roses so I'm glad her colours compliment her neighbours. I will divide her when she stops blooming and have already marked out a few spots where she will look in harmony with her surroundings.

Lola I'm so happy that you also got hooked on TBirises . I will watch carefully your progress because it will help me with my own choices here! RP (1989) is not known yet here but surely it is worthy of being added to any garden, given her reblooming along with roses! The AIS description says nothing about reblooming! It has in its ancestry 'Latin Lover' (1969) which I have just got a rhyzome. All of these are fairly old irises. I wonder where the historic line would be drawn with these. Anyway I want to for your photo. Roses and TB go together so well!
Arturo

Ooooh very harmonious indeed

'historic' iris are those introduced over 30 yrs ago. That is the official position. My husband's award winning MTB 'Billie the Brownie' turns historic this year. Makes me feel ancient.