One of my very first perennial flowers was a bearded iris with no id. When I brought a few of the rhizomes with me when we moved here to Hanbury House, I did not realize it was the beginning of an iris collection. Five years after later, when I discovered there were Reblooming Irises, for a short time, I became obsessed with irises and started collecting them exclusively. I also began weeding out almost all of my spring-only bloomers.

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Why I grow reblooming iris

I like all sorts of bulbs and corms that naturalize in my zone 10 garden, but irises are my favorite geophytes. Reblooming irises bloom in more than just April and early May. Since I am not into showing or breeding irises, I collect varieties that I feel look nice in my garden over a long season. In the Springtime, there is so much color in the garden, the irises just end up being an accent. When they bloom in the off-season, like in August and September or even the dead of winter, they are the stars of the garden. I have had iris arrangements on our Thanksgiving table and in bud vases in the house on New Years Day. The stems are not always as long or as dramatic during the off-season, but they are a welcome pop of color when little else is blooming.

What conditions do reblooming Iris like

Many gardening sources say bearded irises only thrive up to USDA zone 9, but I am in zone 10b on the West Coast and have had success with a large number of irises, especially varieties reported to be rebloomers. I realize my own garden conditions are not ideal for award-winning irises, mainly due to the lack of full sun spots in the yard, stingy water practices on my part, crowding them together in flower borders, and organic methods, but I grow lots of irises anyways. Reblooming irises are a little greedy in comparison to spring-only bloomers, but they do good in a mixed flower bed. They don’t rebloom all that well if they are not given summer water.

Suggestions on where to get reblooming iris

Iris society chapters occasionally have fundraising sales where members donate reblooming irises and regular irises. I have gotten many of my irises from three different SoCal iris society sales. They are also a great place to receive advice on how to grow and what to try in a zone 10b garden. My other sources include directly from breeders, including Suttons Irises, Schreiner’s Irises, and Napa Iris Gardens. Those are the three I have been very happy with and order from the most often. My results with local nurseries and online retailers that sell more than just bearded irises have been mixed. I typically get decent rhizomes from them, but not always true to name. Check Garden Watch Dog at DavesGarden for lots of reviews of online garden retailers, not just reblooming iris sellers.

List of Reblooming Iris

I have had the best reblooming results with irises reported to be either everblooming irises or multiple rebloomers. These seem to be so vigorous they rarely take a break from growing. They don’t seem to mind summer water if they are planted in a flower bed with other perennials. Once an iris rhizome reaches the right size to bloom, they send up a stalk, rather than waiting for cooler fall weather or spring. The downside is, I have to divide them a little more often than spring-only bloomers. The list below is of the irises that I have grown for at least three years or more, and that has consistently rebloomed at times other than mid-Spring every year. The # denotes a variety that I can almost always count on to bloom 3 or more different times a year. The underlined varieties are the ones I think are the prettiest of that particular color.:

20 Rebloomers

• Again and Again (yellowish)
• Anxious (lavendar)
• Best Bet (two toned blue)
• Cantina (purple )
• Concertina* # (peachy-but I didn’t care for the shade of pink and I tossed it after three years, Intermediate Bearded)
• Coronation of David (red)
• Feedback # (purple)
• Forever Yours # (white and strong sweet fragrance)
• Frappe (peachy and white)
• Golden Immortal # (yellow)
• His Royal Highness # (purple)
• Honey Glazed (yellow and tan, Intermediate Bearded)
• Low Ho Silver# (white, Intermediate Bearded)
• Mabel Andrews # (pink)
• Marty Richards # (purple)
• My Friend Jonathan (red, low bud count)
• Masterwork # (two tone blue)
• Rio Vista (lavender- but I thought it was ugly and I tossed it after a year)
• Peggy Sue (pink)
• Pure As Gold (yellow)
• September Frost* (white with blue cast)
• Struck Twice # (peachy pink)
• Winterland* (white)
• And a No ID iris that I think may be Ruth’s Love* (white and yellow)

Additional Reblooming Iris to consider for zone 10

Other irises that have thrived in my yard but are not in my top 20 rebloomers either because I have not grown them long enough, they don’t have enough buds, or they rebloom only sporadically in my yard include:

• Adventurerous (dramatic and pretty, but sporatic rebloom)
• Autumn Rain (dark violet purple, but sporatic rebloom)
• Bernice’s Legacy * (red)
• Boundless (sporatic bloom and rebloom, but very pretty. Bloomed around the holidays a few times)
• Buckwheat (plain with too few buds)
• Carrot Cake (doesn’t rebloom for me)
• Dante’s Inferno (nice color combo but didn’t rebloom every spring, too few buds)
• Dorcas Lives Again (ugly, too few buds)
• Double Down (pretty red, sporatic bloom since 2017)
• Frequent Flyer * (not near as dependable a local source reports)
• Harvest of Memories (too few buds, and I had better yellows, dependable fall rebloom)
• Hemstitched
• Innocent Star
• July Yellow (too few blooms, I had better yellows)
• Lady Friend (pretty reddish color, but has not rebloomed for me)
• Mesmerizer (really tall, not sold as a rebloomer, but does rebloom occasionally in my garden. Very vigorous)
• Orange Popsicle (smells great, blooms in spring only)
• Paprika Fonos (reblooms sporatically but low bud count)
• Scented Bubbles (space ager, sporatic rebloom)
• Snow Day (white and pale blue, occassional fall rebloom, very pretty)
• Summer Waltz (spring only bloom for me in 3 years)
• Stingray ( space ager, occassional fall rebloom)
• Sugar Blues (smells yummy like pez candy, too few buds)
• Victoria Falls (light violet blue, sporatic rebloomer)

What I look for in Reblooming iris

Throughout the years of gardening at Hanbury House, I have tried more than 80 varieties of reblooming irises. I especially like and select for sweet fragrances or irises that have many buds that extend the bloom time on each stalk. I also like softer colors because they seem to work well in a mixed border any time of the year. If an iris variety repeatedly only has 3 to 4 buds, I don’t typically keep it for more than a couple of years, even if it is an okay rebloomer.  I don’t like varieties that snake or twist or “pineapple” every time they rebloom. If they smell “musky” and not sweet, I don’t keep them because I won’t bring those in the house to enjoy as a cut flower. I would prefer no fragrance over musky. Inside the house, the musky ones tend to smell like cat pee. I don’t keep irises with brownish, buff, or drab hues that match a faded iris flower, no matter how well they bloom. I chucked Concertina for that reason even though it was my most regular rebloomer.

Multiple Rebloomers

If I had to name the top rebloomiest (I don’t think that’s actually a word,) I have grown, I would say they are Concertina, Low Ho Silver, His Royal Highness, Masterwork, and Golden Immortal. These could be considered everblooming irises in my yard.

There is a publication put out by the Reblooming Iris Society called the Checklist of Reblooming Irises. It was an excellent reference when I first started collecting. It is a spiral-bound notebook of 2200 varieties of irises reported to rebloom and the USDA zone location where they were reported. If you are interested in reblooming irises, that would be a good place to do some research. There is also a Facebook group.

For anyone who is thinking of becoming a serious iris collector, I would recommend seeking out a local iris society group. They have many knowledge growers, far more than me, that can share their knowledge and experience with irises.

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