Irises from seed

Does anybody know if it is possible to grow irises from seed?

 

I have never done it, but I am sure you can. Virtually everything grows from seed - that's nature's way. The only exceptions are hybrids, ie crosses between species that usually don't interbreed. These are mostly man made and can often be sterile.

Two points to be aware of. One is that seed can be variable and named varieties will not necessarily come true. And how long will it take to flower from seed.

 

I was idly Googling something else - as you do, and put in Iris seed. This came up. The reference to growing from seed is at the bottom.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plantprofile_iris.shtml

 

Thank you PeterS. I think maybe it will take rather a long time to grow them from seed and the end result just might be disappointing. Best to grow from the bulb or the rhizome or whatever it is called. I usually have patience but perhaps not that much.

 

Hi Lintama,I enjoy growing Iris plants and I have tried countless time to pollinate them to get the seed but have failed.As PeterS has said a lot of the ones seen these days are sterile.I usually split mine up every couple of years to keep them going or else in the end they start to die off. :rolleyes:

I have brought my Iris photos forward on the members Hobbies thread under Kandy's Iris's so you can see the colour range of some of them