Hello. I live in Florida, Zone 9b, and miss the bearded iris I grew up with in the Northeast. I have a pair of rhizomes I purchased 2 years ago as something of an experiment and I'd like to see if I can get them to bloom.

- I've been growing them in a large container outdoors so I can move them around and control exposure to both sun and water. They do very well and produce new leaves year-round but never bloom, presumably because of a lack of winterization.
- This year, I'd like to winterize them. My plan is to cut them back, wrap them in newspaper and store them in the crisper drawer of my refrigerator. Another possibility would be to cut them back and store the whole container in my garage refrigerator -- who needs room for Thanksgiving leftovers and the like? = )

Has anyone succeeded in getting tall bearded iris to bloom in Florida or Zone 9b? How many months of wintering do they need? I'm probably already a little late to the party and should've done it in September.

Appreciate your thoughts and advice!

Amanda ~ to the Iris Forum! Maybe someone here has experience with this.

Don't they need light to keep going during the winter?

@DaisyDo Well, my thought is they'd go dormant and get that cold snap they need to bloom. In Pennsylvania, I would cut them down and they were covered by snow for much of the winter but always came back big, strong and beautiful in the spring.

My greater concern was moisture. From what I've read, the rhizome needs to be dry, but the roots need a little moisture here and there. That's why I was thinking about just putting the whole container in so they wouldn't be as stressed from uprooting and all that.

Wondering if it has worked for anyone?

Because irises are drought tolerant, doesn't mean that they need to be kept dry. You don't want excessive moisture, but well drained conditions are best. I had a friend in Arizona who was quite successful getting them to bloom by putting ice on them overnight during the coolest part of the season. She seemed to have the most success with the irises that originated in the hotter California climates. You should probably try the Arlbred varieties, as they like hot weather, but they are desert irises and need dry conditions. Good luck. It won't hurt to try your experiment with a few in the fridge, the worst that could happen is that they would die. You could add a light inside to keep them alive. You could also control the temp. Worth a try at least.

Though we think of iris being totally dormant during the winter, they really aren't quite, and here in Maryland, at least, there always remain a few green leaves that are photosynthesizing, and makng food they need to run their "stepped down" metabolic processes. I somehow doubt they would initiate buds if they had absolutely no light by which to run that energy-requiring process. I like Tom's suggestion of leaving them outdoors and applying ice.

We "winter" at Dauphin Island, Al....which is zone 9a (or so they tell me) and there are a "few" TB's that I see...mostly older cultivars, and about 1/2 of those, I believe, are "Coronation". Anyway, for the 11 "winters" we have been here...I've seen bloom every year but 2 (so far).
My *guess* would be...if you dig and store(or chill, or whatever) the "set back from being dug, and then re established would prevent the likely hood of bloom, in an area that is already "marginal". Leaving them in the soil...in a big pot....might work if you find a way to cool the pot!

Although I see Amanda 46 lives in zone 9b, which is warmer, I've lived in zone 9a for the last 24 years and I've always got blooms. Please excuse the weeds.