We put in the small containers which you get plants in from garden centers. Then in Oct put those outside in a trench, covered with screening to protect from the chipmunks. They usually germinate in May. I would not plant directly in the ground as some seeds can take several years to germinate & when you think you have all the new plants, something can pop up & you will have no record of what it is.

Good points, Lucy!

Paul, I doubt my seedlings will ever be as spectacular as yours.

@Paul2032 very inspiring!!!

Cross the best you have with each other. Splurge on 2 or 3 new ones for parents. It is fun to see the seedlings from any cross including bee pods but there is no use to reinvent the wheel....

When crossing the best with the best you are bound to get some great irises. Paul, yours are spectacular.

Sweet thread to read, all! I have some in the refrigerator now...we'll see what happens!

I am just getting into iris more this year. So bee pods are usually not fertile because of the shape of the bloom?? I do know the ones I picked didn't have any mature seeds. I can plant bee pods from a daylily. I have some on my Siberian that I try planting. I think this can be a bit addictive lol. I love seed planting.

Like on Forest Gump, you never know what you are going to get!

I have had a couple of bee pods that had seeds, but not many of them do on the TB's The little ones seem to have lots of seeds from bee pods.

Last year, I bought some mixed bearded iris seeds to practise on, before trying my hand at making my own crosses. I put half of them (around 20) in pots outside over winter and the other half were sown in spring. In april/may this year I had 40 little seedlings and they didn't show any differences in growth whatsoever. So I will put most of my crosses outside in pots this fall (just to make sure they get enough cold) and pick one or two crosses to give the whole refrigiator treatment.

That was a great experiment Lilli, good to know

Good for you, Lilli.

How much soil do you all cover your seeds with?

a light layer here

All of my seeds are germinated in pots. I use a very thin layer of dirt, probably too thin. Sometimes the odd seed will surface and I cover it up again. Once I didn't notice a seed that had surfaced and it still grew.

Light layer here too, just enough to prevent them from drying out.

Paul2032 said:In my experiment I made planned crosses, gathered the drying seed,, refrigerated the seed in moist paper towel,., potted in January and placed in sunny windows and under lights. I am admittedly obsessive and potted in individual pots as they grew. When I planted them out in May many were several inches tall and some were showing increase. I pushed with water and fertilizer all summer. I got nearly 100 per cent the next spring. It can be done.....Depends on you.
June 2011


June 2011


here is proof of the pudding.......Spring 2012

Paul ~ Since I am old, I think that I will try it your way. I might not live long enough to see the results of my crosses.

I hope that no one objects to my "digging" into old threads.

no evelyn, i think that's a great way for us to learn more, especially if we've recently joined the forum long after the initial post. especially if one doesn't have time to really delve into posts from the past. thank you!