Leadership is a very special personal quality. Anyone embarking down this road needs to be bold and have the courage to stand by their convictions. The road can be lonely with one's followers failing to see your point of view particularly at "crunch time." It requires a dogged determination to see a course of action to its conclusion and accept any consequences. Some of the best leadership I have seen is by example.

Many of the original rebloom trailblazers followed this recipe. They persevered and found success. They have passed the leader's baton to their willing heirs. Some of the toughest riddles facing remontancy wait to be solved. Does the next generation have the "right stuff" to get the job done?

One of Dr. Lloyd Zurbrigg's last acts was to get me involved in a nationwide rebloom forum. This discussion forged a friendship with Betty Wilkerson of Bridge in Time Iris Garden in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Bluegrass State still feels like a geographic eternity from the Old Dominion, but we were at least on the same side of the world. As our association has grown via emails and phone calls, Betty has offered me an intriguing "sneak peek" into the future of rebloom.

My Powhatan County, VA garden at the Cosby Diary Farm has a decided rebloom flavor to it. The main goal is to trial past and present bearded remontant varieties and seedlings for reliability and garden performance in our fickle Middle Atlantic climate. Another aim is to promote in real time the value of rebloom in the home landscape to the general public. Betty Wilkerson has actively contributed to this effort. The end result is some encouraging summer and fall flowering results to report on 'Echo Location' TB ('07), 'Tara's Choice' TB ('04), 'Star Gate' TB ('05) and 'Summer Radiance' TB ('96).

Betty sent me bare root divisions of 'Echo Location' and 'Tara's Choice' back in the summer of 2004 for evaluation in my former garden site in the Flatrock Section of Powhatan County. Dr. Zurbrigg and I were excited to test the latest products of our fellow breeder's rebloom program. Each selection was potted up for later planting. Installation unfortunately never happened as I was forced to move my entire garden of irises and herbaceous peonies during the 2005 growing season.

The Cosby Diary Farm in western Powhatan County became the new home for my display, production and breeding garden. 'Echo Location' and 'Tara's Choice' miraculously survived their long stints in one-gallon pots. They were finally planted in the main display area in mid fall of 2006. Thanks to a devastating early April 2007 freeze, I did not see maiden bloom on' Echo Location' until late September. Fall performance was spectacular with three nicely developed bloomstalks to enjoy.

'Echo Location' (Wilkerson 07) came about after Betty joined the Iris Internet List back in January 1999. "One of my consistent goals is to produce a modern red on yellow plicata rebloomer with good height, branching and flower form." After making a request on the Iris List for breeding parent choices with this plicata pattern, Mike Sutton suggested 'Innocent Star', " Wilkerson recalled. After acquiring and planting the Sutton 99 introduction, it produced two flower stalks to try breeding ideas the following spring.

Two cross pollinations lead to seed. One was No.#1510 or Innocent Star X 'Radiant Bliss' TB (B. Wilkerson '05). 'Radiant Bliss' has tried to rebloom for me in 2007 and 2008. A child of 'Earl of Essex' TB (L. Zurbrigg '80) and Hot Streak TB (J. Ghio '88), this neat plicata features greyed orange standards and falls with beetroot edging and gold overlay accenting a white ground. This combination led to 'All Revved Up' TB (B. Wilkerson '06). The other cross was No.#1511 or Innocent Star X Rebound (Wilkerson '96). 'Rebound' TB (B. Wilkerson '96) is Highland Chief (Gibson 73) by Earl of Essex. Four out of seven seedlings initiated fall flower. "They looked like 'Rebound', but 'Echo Location' was one of a kind," Betty mentioned fondly.

'Echo Location' reminds me of Frank Fan's 'Melted Butter' TB ('94). Butter yellow flowers are accented with brown haft lines and white beards tipped yellow. An explosion of bloomstalks started appearing in mid September 2008. It ended up blooming for almost a month and half on fourteen nice sized stalks. It was the envy of any typical spring bloomer and the best remontant in my fall garden.

'Tara's Choice' ('04) did not flower for me until this year. Its standards are greyed reddish purple. Medium blue falls have shoulders and ¼" edging of the same color as standards. This child of (Her Royal Highness x Inferno) X Feed Back was the result of Betty's attempts to create a red rebloomer. "Red rebloomers were, and still are, hard to find," mentioned Wilkerson. "It had fall bloom in 1994, and I stuck a flag on it." This seedling made the trip to Betty's new garden in Bowling Green. Her daughter Tara was living with her during the first fall at the new address. "I was bugging her one day to go out and look at the rebloom seedlings with me. She said, I already told you which one I like!" It became 'Tara's Choice'.

'Tara's Choice' TB ('04) rebloomed this fall in mid October. Stalks were short with medium sized flowers. The contrast of coloring on the falls was quite distinctive. It has been a good breeding partner for Betty. She has high hopes for 'Tara's Choice' offspring. Like most iris breeders, Wilkerson anxiously awaits spring bloom. There is a good bet one of them will eventually make its way to the iris marketplace.

'Rosalie Figge' TB (McKnew '91) is one of the best purple remontants to date. As good as it is as a garden plant, this child of Dykes Medal winning 'Titan's Glory' (Schreiners '81) has been frustrating to use for breeding. Wilkerson tried using 'Violet Miracle' TB (L. Zurbrigg '79) pollen on 'Feed Back' TB (B. Hager '83). 'Star Gate' TB ('05) was the second best of fifteen seedlings planted. Betty registered it back in 2002 as a medium to dark blue violet with white veining near old gold tipped white beards. Fall bloom had nice contrast next to one of my pale pink rebloom seedlings. 'Star Gate' flowered in my fall garden on two well- proportioned stalks during the balance of October after being planted out of a pot earlier in the year. Released in 2005 with little fanfare, rebloom enthusiasts should consider it a worthy alternative to 'Rosalie Figge'. 'Violet Miracle' has once again proved its value as an important remontant parent.

'Summer Radiance' TB ('96) always seemed to surface in my many conversations with Betty. It was a mystery iris to me. The late Dr. Zurbrigg never mentioned it in my constant deliberations with him before his passing in 2005. I figured this Wilkerson dandy must be a local phenomenon of some kind. My recent experiences growing it over the past year indicate Betty found the right name to describe its exceptional performance.

The parentage of 'Summer Radiance' is Lemon Reflection X Hidenberg. Betty made five crosses on Dr. Raymond Smith's remontant ('78) back in 1990. "I planted eight seedlings. A later note said, "E31-01=BRIGHT." I was most impressed with the color (chrome-yellow) and branching. They were very good for a rebloomer. After spring bloom, E31-01 put up late stalks after six weeks. I was ecstatic!! July bloom usually creates talk."

'Summer Radiance' confirmed its Kentucky rebloom habits in my garden this past summer. It had been planted out of a pot at the same time as 'Echo Location' and 'Tara's Choice'. This Wilkerson beauty bloomed this spring and initiated flower stalks on two clumps from mid to late June. Bloom returned again in mid July. Its chrome-yellow coloring stood out during our hot summer days. A major obstacle in fall rebloom is late bloomstalk development. 'Summer Radiance' like 'Gate of Heaven' TB (Zurbrigg '04) offers remontant breeders some interesting options to overcome this problem.

Recent Wilkerson rebloom introductions are not only residing in my Central VA garden, they have also been planted in tour gardens for the AIS Region 4 Spring Meeting hosted by the Fredericksburg Area Iris Society in Northern VA this coming May. Summer and fall flowering results have in most cases been duplicated in these growing spaces.

Breeders are driven by endless expectation. They are the necessary fuel to keep a development program moving in a positive direction. The secret to Betty Wilkerson's recent rebloom conquests is meticulous research and careful planning of crosses to be made each spring. These practices become important hedges against countless disappointment. She has left few stones unturned over a twenty five year career.

Despite recent medical setbacks, she remains undaunted in her quest to put remontants on a level playing field with their spring only flowering cousins. Thanks to Betty's recent contributions, the next chapter for rebloom will surely be an exciting one!