Flowering plants represent a large and diverse land plant lineage. Critical to their reproductive success has been the evolution of mechanisms to ensure proper timing of flowering. Plants cue flowering as they age, and further coordinate with the sensing of environmental signals such as changing daylengths and seasonal temperatures. The molecular genetics of flowering in the model Arabidopsis thaliana are well characterized, however, relatively little is known in other species. Study of diverse lineages suggests mechanisms regulating flowering time have evolved independently. A conserved feature is the importance of chromatin in regulating flowering time genes. We screened a library of Arabidopsis histone deacetylase mutations and found that HDA9 forms a conserved complex with PWR and HOS15. HDA9-PWR-HOS15 represses flowering through the autonomous pathway. We provide a literature review of the involvement of the Arabidopsis HDAC superfamily in flowering. To overcome redundancy, we created and characterized higher order mutants of the Class I HDAC mutants (hda9/6/19), allowing us to more precisely define their roles in flowering. To explore flowering in other plant lineages, we are studying the temperate grass Brachypodium distachyon. To develop Brachypodium as a model organism, we conducted a study to determine optimal light conditions for indoor growth. We settled on an LED source that results in favorable traits such as compactness and shortened generation time. Finally, we provide an update to discuss how forward and reverse genetics has led to progress in understanding Brachypodium's flowering pathway. Future studies will continue to characterize genes to better understand the molecular basis of vernalization.