Feeling The Blues

By Patrick O'Connor

If you are bored with blue, you might want to move on to greener, or more psychedelic, pastures.  This post is just about the pursuit of pale blue tones in Louisiana iris hybrids.  Kevin Vaughn calls them “icy” blue, and the color has intrigued several hybridizers.

In a way it is odd that it would be necessary to hustle after pale blue Louisiana hybrids since the color is found within the natural range of the blue species, I. giganticaerulea, I. brevicaulis, and, possibly, I. hexagona.  There are rare white forms of each, of course, and the intensity of the predominant blue color sometimes shades gradually toward white.

I don’t know much about the East Coast I. hexagona, but I have seen native stands of brevicaulis in Louisiana that exhibit a considerable range of blue hues within a short distance.  A case in point is a light blue in Gary Babin’s yard in Baton Rouge.  Gary has maintained an extensive planting of brevicaulis in many shades that originated with collections from a nearby wetland many years ago.   Almost all flowers are considerably darker, some a fairly deep blue-purple.

I. brevicaulis from Gary Babin in Baton Rouge

Pale blue I. giganticaerulea growing in LaPlace, LA

Several I. giganticaeruleas or related specimens are another example.  One, found in LaPlace, Louisiana, is the palest blue, nearly white.  Most giganticaeruleas are a darker blue, blue-purple or blue-lavender.

'Eolian'  -  Photo by Robert Treadway.

When I started with Louisiana irises in the late 1970s, Charles Arny’s ‘Eolian’ was the iris held up as the lightest of blues.  It’s still grown and sometimes wins shows, but ‘Eolian’, while lighter than most blue Louisianas, really is not the icy blue that has obsessed some of us.

'Delta Dove'

"Ice Angel'

Three examples of icy blues emerged in the 1980s:  ‘Delta Dove’ (Dunn, R1984); ‘Ice Angel’ (Faggard, 1988); and ‘Southdowns’ (O’Connor, registered in 1992 but first bloomed in 1980).   All these irises approached or met the color requirement, and they also offered a larger, fuller flower than ‘Eolian’.  I can’t speak from much experience about ‘Delta Dove’ and ‘Ice Angel’, having only seen them sporadically, but ‘Southdowns’ is mine and I am well acquainted with its characteristics. 

'Southdowns'

Some people say that it lacks substance.  I say, however, that it is a gossamer thing of ephemeral beauty – that lacks substance.  So what if you can almost see through a petal?  Isn’t everything supposed to be “transparent” these days?  Does the judges handbook suggest that poor substance is a fault?  Afraid so, but it is a great grower and a fine garden iris that looks especially nice at dusk and in a little shade.  ‘Southdowns’ may not be covered by the Second Amendment, but no one is going to take it away from me.

Another attribute of ‘Southdowns’, if you look closely, is that it really is not blue.  The color upon opening consists of fine purple veins over a white ground.  With time the purple lightens, and even at first and from a distance, the eye sees it as pale blue.  Newer icy blue hybrids are actually icy blue.

These early light blues did not seem to come from a disciplined pursuit of that color.  Dunn’s ‘Delta Dove’ might have, in that one parent was a seedling from two whites, ‘Ila Nunn’ and a white giganticaerulea (‘Her Highness’).  The cross was a wide one, however, with the other parent being the famous red ‘Ann Chowning’.  It was a roll of the dice for blues, but they produced a winner.

Nothing is known about the parentage of ‘Ice Angel’, and ‘Southdowns’ came from a bee pod on ‘Cajun Caper’ in the first year I fiddled with seeds.  (I am sure that the other parent was the blue ‘Mac’s Blue Heaven’ but I did not make the cross.  ‘Cajun Caper’ is a red-violet blend with a strong orange suffusion).

'Bywater'

'Faubourg Marigny'

'Estelle Egan'

'Sarah Faith' - Photo by Robert Treadway

Later hybridizing has been more systematic.  There are five irises I would cite as modern examples of work leading to icy blue Louisiana irises.  Three are mine:  ‘Bywater’ ( R2005, Southdowns x Lake Sylvia); ‘Faubourg Marigny’ (R2011, Bywater x Beale Street); and ‘Estelle Egan’ (R2013, Bywater x Sinfonietta).  The fourth is ‘Sarah Faith’ (R2008, Dural Bluebird x Jeri) by the late M.D. Faith.  The last and most recent is Kevin Vaughn’s ‘Aqua Velva’, (R2014, Beale Street x Dural White Butterfly).

‘Bywater’ is actually blue, and like ‘Southdowns’, a very good grower.   The flower form is nearly overlapping, but depending how they are held, some blossoms may appear a bit open.

‘Faubourg Marigny’ is an even lighter blue.  In fact, it opens a pale, pastel blue over a white ground, and it does fade to near white.  Those icy genes clearly are there, however. 

‘Sarah Faith’ got by me.  I have only seen a picture sent by Robert Treadway, who told me about the iris.  It is a beautiful, ruffled pale blue.  Robert says the iris has a nice stalk, too, so everything considered, it was a real loss not to have grown this one, so far.  Judging from just the picture, it is right similar to the next iris.

‘Estelle Egan’ probably is my best pale blue.  It has the color right and adds both ruffling and improved substance.  The iris grows well and forms a nice clump.

I have only seen Kevin’s new ‘Aqua Velva’ one time in a garden, but it looks like a fine addition.  It certainly has a good pedigree, and what a perfect name!

'Aqua Velva'

I am excited about a new iris that popped up in the pursuit of light blues.  ‘House of Blues’, currently in process of registration, comes from a cross of the pastel blue ‘Faubourg Marigny’ and the pastel pink ‘Birthday Suit’.  ‘House of Blues’ may not qualify as icy, but it definitely is cool.

'House of Blues'

If anyone else is intrigued by icy blues, the groundwork done should support real progress.  A good strategy might be to work with strong whites and blues as well as with the existing icy hybrids.  It should be possible to develop pale blue irises with many of the good attributes of modern Louisianas.  

Satisfying Louisiana Irises’ Craving for Water

By Patrick O'Connor

If there’s anything that is generally understood about Louisiana irises it is that they like water.   As these irises have risen from obscurity to popularity among gardeners, however, their promoters have had to walk a fine line in describing their water needs.

On the one hand, it has been important to convince people that these “swamp plants” do not have to grow in standing water.  Gardeners can succeed quite well with them in a bed alongside annuals and perennials of many kinds.  On the other, optimal performance may not be attained if their Louisiana irises get only the amount of water that the “average” plant needs. 

Louisianas suffer if they get too dry, even for a brief period.  They require consistent moisture.  If they dry out during an even brief drought, especially from spring through summer, they will begin to have scruffy foliage and, in the extreme, go essentially dormant.  Generally, with insufficient water, they enter an in-between state in which much of the foliage is just yellowed and unattractive.  This is hardly a fatal condition, but it is not a pleasing sight.  Ample water is the preventative.  (Soil fertility is also critical, but that is mostly another story).

The thirstiest Louisiana, Iris giganticaerulea, in a swamp in Jean Lafitte, LA.

I. brevicaulis, the least thirsty of the species, growing in Gary Babin's Baton Rouge backyard, nowhere near standing water.

Different Louisiana irises may have a greater or lesser tolerance for insufficient moisture.  In a separate series of blogs, Joe Musacchia is describing the background and characteristics of the species that are the foundation of today’s cultivars.  For present purposes, it is enough to say that some of the species (Iris giganticaerulea and I. nelsonii) are indeed swamp dwellers, found growing in standing water.  (The East Coast species I. hexagona appears to like the same or similar conditions as I. giganticaerulea, but this iris has been used only rarely in developing the modern cultivars.)  At the other extreme, I. brevicaulis is an inhabitant of low, damp spots, but is not generally found in anything beyond the mucky edges of water.  I. fulva is intermediate in this regard, often the inhabitant of wet ditches and sloughs that may hold water all or most of the year.  The water requirements of a cultivar will depend upon the often obscure or unknown genetic mix of these species in its background.

The issue is how to deal with the water needs of Louisiana irises so that they are respectable citizens of the garden when not in bloom, as well as how to encourage plentiful and beautiful flowers.  There are any number of approaches that will work so long as the result is that the irises remain consistently wet.  One could drag out a hose and attend to their thirsty cravings by hand watering.  Not many of us would elect that course, at least for very long.  I once used a sprinkler placed around the garden on a rotating basis, but even that got old, and I was not really as consistent as necessary.  I had reasoned that in the New Orleans area where there are 60 inches of rainfall annually and where the irises are native, it should not be necessary to take herculean steps to water these plants.  I was wrong, and I was never satisfied with the way my irises looked in the hot summer months.

A switch to a series of sprinklers each on a timer was a huge improvement.  That arrangement created the consistency of moisture that the irises require, and for the first time, the foliage on my irises remained green and attractive right through the summer heat.  Only in the fall when the new growth cycle began did I have to apply serious work to clean up the iris foliage.

The weeds responded well to this approach also.  I found it difficult to keep up with the weeding, especially with some noxious non-native perennials, such as alligator weed. 

When I operated a nursery, Zydeco Louisiana Iris Garden, I had grown many plants in half barrels with no drain holes.  That worked well generally, but most of those barrels were at another location, not in my home garden.   My primary objective at home has been to maintain an attractive landscape and not have it look like a production farm, even though I did use much of the yard space for nursery operations.  I was in the market for water-holding containers without an industrial appearance.

A mortar mixing tub from Home Depot, a future home for Louisiana irises.

The solution came to me in an email from Wayland Rudkin.  A California hybridizer, Wayland sent me a picture of his ‘Ginny’s Choice’, later a Debaillon Award winner, growing in a shallow  tub of the kind sold in the construction sections at Home Depot and Lowe’s for mixing mortar.  The tub in Wayland’s picture was packed with happy, healthy looking irises. 

These mixing tubs are sold in two sizes, one about six inches deep that measures 18 by 24 inches and the other two inches deeper and slightly longer and wider.  There are no drain holes.  The smaller size sells for between six and seven dollars and the larger between twelve and thirteen dollars.  They are black and made of some sort of thick plastic material.   They will crack if hit hard, stepped on, or lifted while full of soil, but they otherwise seem sturdy and probably are reasonably long lasting. These trays can be sunk into the ground or placed on the surface. 

I opted for the smaller, shallower tubs for reasons of economy and to maximize the number of cultivars I can grow.  I have replaced most of my iris beds with these mixing tubs set one next to the other on the soil surface or on landscape fabric in a few areas.  The rims of the tubs can be overlapped to prevent weeds from growing between them.  I have found that the tubs currently sold by Home Depot work better for overlapping than the ones from Lowe’s because of a flatter rim.  The tubs can be angled slightly to accommodate curved beds or walkways. 

Mixing tubs in place but not yet mulched.

A garden path with tubs cleverly disguised by rows of bricks and Live Oak leaf mulch. 

If the tubs are not dug into the soil, it is necessary to resort to camouflage for an unobtrusive look.  In my case, I lined the paths in my garden with bricks stacked two or three high.  When mulch is added and the irises are growing well, the tubs are essentially hidden, and the look, to me, appears natural.

After two and a half years, I consider growing Louisiana irises in these tubs to be a successful experiment.  The irises so far have grown very well and bloomed beautifully.  Like irises in beds, I anticipate that the tubs will have to be reworked periodically.  The soil undoubtedly will have to be replenished, although I have added an inch or so each year.  Either there is a bit of subsidence or some soil washes out, but in either case I try to keep the soil level near the top in order to allow maximum room for root development and to prevent too much standing water.  If the trays are full or nearly full of soil, evaporation quickly takes care of any surface moisture that might attract mosquitoes. 

I did worry when I began using the mixing tubs that six inches of soil would not be sufficient for good growth of the irises.  I have found only a few varieties with roots so long that they hit the bottom of the tubs and then flatten across the bottom.  Even with those, the irises appear to grow happily.  Except for cost, I probably would have opted for tubs two inches deeper, but I have not detected any problem with the shallower model.

Garden scenes during the first and second seasons with the tubs in place.

I will not go so far as to say that weeding has become a delight, but it is much easier to pluck a weed from a mucky bog than from garden soil.  Many common weeds do not like the bogs, although one can expect a few new ones to appear.  The iris bogs are no replacement for diligence, though, and they will look bad if unattended.  Of course, any perennial weeds growing beneath the tubs will be entirely frustrated.  This gives me great pleasure.

A bog replacement for normal beds does not require a landscape of uninterrupted Louisiana irises.  There are many interesting plants not often found in the garden that can be grown in the tubs with the irises.  Marsh Fern (Thelypteris palustris) and various forms of papyrus thrive under these conditions.  I devote one entire tub to a Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis), which provides great texture that contrasts nicely with iris foliage.  Pickerel Weed (Pontederia cordata) has beautiful blue-purple flowers and also a nice contrast of foliage texture.  The deep red foliage of the hybrid Crinum‘Menehune’, Red Bog Lily, is a wonderful accent, also.  The use of little bogs for irises opens up a new palette of companion plants.

There are some issues that must be dealt with if employing bog culture.  I have found a few cultivars that do not thrive in the tubs.  These seem prefer a good garden bed but with ample moisture.  There are not many, however, and trial and error is the only way I know of to discover this preference.

The shallow tubs will dry out quickly if not watered.  I had thought that this approach would be a better way to reduce the amount of water I use.  That has not been the case.  When I apply water, however, the irises get to grow in boggy conditions, and almost all varieties thrive year round. 

I have never been sure how to fertilize irises grown in containers that do not drain.  Fertilization is the second key to success with Louisianas.  All the fertilizer rate recommendations assume beds or containers through which water drains rather than accumulates.  I have no idea what happens with the chemistry in those tubs.  I have used mainly time release fertilizers applied as if the tubs were containers with drain holes.  It has seemed to work, but I am sure there is a much more refined and informed approach that would be preferable.  I suppose a container system would be better that more closely emulated a real bog in which there is some natural, albeit very slow, movement of water.

There are many other approaches through which the thirst of Louisiana irises can be satisfied.  For example, Benny Trahan in Slidell, Louisiana, creates “iris paddies”, which essentially are retention ponds with a few inches of water into which he places potted irises.  The plants are able to suck up as much water as they want.  Eileen Hollander in New Orleans is also using mixing tubs, and has written an account of her experience in the Spring 2014 issue of SLI’s publication Fleur de Lis.  Robert Treadway, from Carlisle, Arkansas, wrote of his development of plastic lined beds in an article that can be found on the SLI website at:  Development of Plastic Lined Beds

While I regard the creation of iris bogs using mixing tubs to be a successful experiment, it undoubtedly is not one that should be tried without modification in all parts of the country.  The weather in, say, Montana, may argue for a different approach. But a key to success with Louisiana irises is water, regardless of how it is delivered.

The Open and Flaring Form Among Louisiana Irises

By Patrick O'Connor


Bigger is better?  Fatter flowers are superior to skinny ones?  Not necessarily when it comes to Louisiana irises, at least not officially, and not in the view of many devotees of these plants.  Wisely, the AIS Handbook for Judges asserts that none of the recognized flower forms among Louisiana irises are unacceptable and none are superior to the others.  We are allowed to have personal favorites, of course.

Ron Killingsworth’s excellent blog post in November 2012 covered the wide range of forms found among Louisiana irises.  If one looks at the latest introductions, it might appear that hybridizers have mostly abandoned anything reminiscent of the open form characteristic of the five Louisiana species and the many natural hybrids found in the wild.  Ron gave them their due, but I want to double down on the virtues of these flowers and argue that modern hybridizers should rediscover their merits. 

Iris giganticaerulea

Iris fulva

All of the five species of Louisiana iris have an open form and each makes its contribution.  We can thank I. fulva and I. nelsonii for red and yellow.  Fulva usually has drooping petals that are rarely a model for flower form, although if not taken to an extreme, an umbrella of color can be quite pretty.  The flower of Iris giganticaerulea is most appealing to me.  It flares elegantly upon opening, with its petals pointing both laterally and skyward, creating an airy, graceful shape.

Hybridizers, present company included, have not worked much to improve flaring, open-form Louisiana irises.   From the time of the discovery of the first fuller-flowered Louisianas in the wild, there has been a headlong movement toward the wide-petaled cultivars that are predominant today.  Such features as ruffling and edging have been an added focus in recent years.  This is not to complain about the progress made – the results have been beautiful – and past work has incorporated many other traits of value, such as better substance, floriferousness, and shape of stalk.  But I would like to at least whisper, “Whoa!  Let’s not forget the natural history and heritage of these plants.” 

'Black Widow' (MacMillan, 1953).  A classic and still popular Louisiana iris exhibiting an open form.  Photo by Linda Trahan.

'Dixie Deb' (Chowning, 1950).  Another old and open Louisiana cultivar.  Also a vigorous grower and a good garden iris.

In sifting through iris pictures in search of good examples of open, flaring cultivars, it is striking the extent to which they are mostly old and not far removed from the stock found in the wild in Louisiana.  To the extent that newer introductions of this type exist, they tend to come from hybridizers in Louisiana where the reminders of the irises’ natural history are still vividly in evidence along the roadways and in the wetlands. Sometimes, admittedly, the development of a worthy iris of flaring, open form has been incidental to other objectives, but some recent examples can still serve to show the potential.

'Who's Ya Mama' (Musacchia, 2014)

'N'Orleans Flambeaux' (R. McSparrin, 2013)

There are challenges to any hybridizer intent on developing improved Louisianas with an open, flaring form.  For all the beauty of wild irises, they exhibit some undesirable traits, particularly poor substance.  A wild iris flower will not last nearly as long in the garden as most of the modern hybrids.  It will be necessary to address more characteristics than just flower shape if the open, flaring form is to become and remain a popular option among Louisiana iris lovers.

'Cocodrie' (O'Connor, 2013)

'Twisted Sister' (O'Connor, 2003)

'Sunshine Bridge' (O'Connor, 2001)

Louisiana irises have been seriously hybridized for a little over a half century and, given the changes wrought, one can only imagine (and perhaps a little bit fear) what the future might bring.  The genetic potential apparently exists to shape these flowers into forms unimaginable today.  In another fifty years, perhaps they could all look like tropical hibiscus if hybridizers put their tweezers to the task. 

Hopefully not.  An open flower will present fewer square inches of color and may not look as impressive as an overlapping and frilly one when printed on a page or projected on a screen. The true test will be in the garden where poise and grace may get more credit.  

Gardeners most value the images they see live in the landscape.  I am confident that graceful Louisiana irises can fill many a bed if we maintain their connection to the natural world..