Red Reblooming Bearded Iris
Happy New Year!
Living in Southern California, we hardly get a break in the growing season, and Mid Winter often brings out some of first of the cool season blooms to my garden. One of my brand new, planted in September, reblooming irises sent up a spike just before Christmas and bloomed today. I was so tickled and surprised to have it bloom already that I had to share my delight. Irises are some of my favorite perennials. This red spotted iris is technically a NOID (no identity) bearded iris, but I am pretty sure it is Pepper Blend, by Moores, 1977. After seeing other similar irises, lots of research based on the history I know about it, and more importantly seeing a recent photo upload to the iris wiki of an iris exactly like mine, taken by iris hybridizer Richard Tasco. Other possibilities I considered were Etched Burgundy, a burgundy red plicata hybridized by Garrison in 1970 or Spiked Punch, hybridized by Moores in 1980, or Cayenne Capers Iris. The colors look different, at different times of the day and lighting. This second photo is more true to the bloom color.
There is more info on Pepper Blend at reblooming iris at The American Iris Society’s online encyclopedia. And info on Spiked Punch, Etched Burgundy, and Cayenne Capers can be found there as well at this link. We are having a bit of a warm spell, and I plan to enjoy the lovely weather this New Years Day doing one of my favorite things, puttering in the garden. I hope you also have a Happy New Year!
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Update: This new iris didn’t bloom in the Spring when all my other irises were reblooming in March, April, and May. However, the little clump of reblooming iris sent up another spike sometime around the 4th of July, and flowered around the second week of July. It is now sending up another spike, as of August 8th, 2014. I have never had an iris rebloom in the hottest part of the summer. The stock wasn’t really tall and the flowers were a little darker than the winter ones.
I am waiting to see what happens with some of my other new reblooming acquisitions. From what I understand it can take a few years for them to start their reblooming cycles.