by Gary Salathe
The Northlake Nature Center is located near Mandeville,
Louisiana, north of New Orleans. It was
established in 1982 by as a project of the Greater Covington Junior Service League as an independent non-profit corporation
directed to preserve, study, and publicly exhibit the natural and cultural
resources of the Florida Parishes in southeastern Louisiana.
The 400 acre Nature Center offers visitors the
opportunity to experience three different ecosystems: hardwood forest,
pine-hardwood forest and pond-swamp. The ponds in the cypress swamp area are
the result of active beaver dams.
On March 4, 2017 volunteers from the Greater New
Orleans Iris Society (GNOIS), Gary Salathe and Richard and Carol Drouant,
planted donated Louisiana irises species I. giganticaerulea and I. fulva in the
cypress swamp area of the Nature Center.
When they first approached Rue
Mcneill, Executive Director of the Nature Center, about planting some Louisiana iris species among the many wild I. virginica irises already growing there she was very
enthusiastic and said the GNOIS could plant as many as they wanted. She also told them that she hoped that the
society would eventually plant all five Louisiana iris species.
After finding what they believed were the right
combination of wetness, soil type and sunlight, the trio of GNOIS members
planted about forty I. giganticaerulea and fifty I. fulva plants in
two separate locations. The irises were donated by A Louisiana Pond.
I.giganticaerulea
I. fulva
With the satisfaction and euphoria of successfully
completing the planting they decided then and there to commit to eventually get
all five species planted in the Nature Center.
Rue quickly accepted the offer!
The irises planted that day may be first ever Louisiana
irises to grow there in the one hundred years, or so, that the cypress swamp
has been in existence.
She also told the group about another area of the 400 acre tract of land that has ponds. She offered those areas to the GNOIS as places where species irises could be planted for the purpose of propagating them.
For more information on the five Louisiana iris species:
http://www.zydecoirises.com/Species/Species.htm
http://www.zydecoirises.com/Species/Summer2007a.pdf
Gary Salathe and Richard Drouant up to their knees in
snake country. Luckily, the temperatures
were cool enough that day so the snakes and alligators were not active.
I. fulva is one of five Louisiana iris species. Once found in abundance in south/central Louisiana swamps and roadside ditches, it has been decimated over the last one hundred years by encroaching development and the use of herbicides by the State of Louisiana highway maintenance crews to keep ditches clear of vegetation.
Editor's Note: The World of Irises is delighted to have this guest blog by Gary Salathe who lives north of New Orleans with his wife next to a pond that they have turned into a showcase of Louisiana irises call A Louisiana Pond. It was on the 2018 AIS tour of gardens at the national convention. He is a volunteer and member of the board of directors of the Greater New Orleans Iris Society. As a part owner of a residential construction company, irises are his hobby until his retirement and then they will become his vocation. He is interested in the idea of raising Louisiana iris species into areas that now have much improved hurricane protection levees in Southeast Louisiana.
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