Jan ~ I have not yet used the garden.org database to add plants to my list. I suppose that would be another thing that I need to do.

It seems like such a good idea!

I've found it very useful, Evelyn.

Me too!

janwax said: I also have several notebooks in which I keep information about crosses...and notes about blooms and bloom times...and who's fertile and who isn't..

Jan ~ Is there a place to look regarding fertility of your irises, or is it just from your own experience?

Evelyn. when you look up an iris in the iris database, if it's been introduced for more than a year or two, the info on its page will usually included parentage and its children. If it's particularly fertile it may have had many children. If it's only been introduced for a year or two, there may not have been time for hybridizers to breed it yet - and no list of progeny. So another way to test for possible fertility is to click on its parents to see if they have produced many children.

I have a spreadsheet also with hybridizer listed and put an X in the column for each year that it blooms with any other pertinent info like rot or moved or borers in code. I know how to add and delete columns but my son has to print it for me since It always seems to come out in the wrong direction.

The Tempo Two catalogs sometimes mention if an iris is fertile in the description for that iris. You can search for the word "fertile" to save you reading the whole thing.
http://www.tempotwo.com.au/Tem...

Jan and Robin ~ I have been doing that. In fact right now I am mapping out the genetics of every iris that I have. That way I will have an idea of which ones to start with and what their mates should be.

This coming spring, I will only use a few that are well-established plants in my garden, not the newcomers, as I want to wait until they grow a bit. Also, I want to see the growth patterns of all the new ones, as well as other traits and features they may have. (This will also give me a chance to practice crossing and growing them from seed.) Also, I need to finish digging more beds for the new seedlings as well as finishing the Iris Garden Bed #1.

In your experience, how long does it take for rebloomers to give a second showing? Two or three years? I suppose it may vary, as irises can vary according to many factors, such as weather and watering. What has been your experience?

Thank you both for taking the time to answer my questions.

since irises are new to my garden (2016), i can only tell you what has happened since i rec'd them last summer/fall. i had a few blooms from rebloomers just months after planting them, last year. many of them bloomed again this spring. a few of them bloomed again this fall, but we have had terribly hot spell (during the time i would have expected them to send up bloom stalks), and i don't think i was watering the rebloomers enough. i am planning to remedy that during the upcoming year by paying attention more to those that are known remontants.😜

Daphne ~ Good idea! I think that eventually I will put the remontants in their own bed, but right now, that is not my priority. I probably didn't water my Immortality enough, as it never has rebloomed for me. Possibly it is NOT Immortality. We'll see this coming year.