Some of my “favorite” Louisiana Irises

by Ron Killingsworth

'Bayou Tiger'

‘Bayou Tiger’ (Strawn, K 1993) has to be a favorite for any LSU fan!  I have given away more rhizomes of this iris than any other.  Every LSU fan wants this iris.  Although it is not exactly LSU colors, it is as close as any iris I have grown.

'Bit of Blue'

‘Bit of Blue’ (Arny, Charles 1975) is registered as “wisteria blue self” and 36” in height but grows a little shorter for me.  It has smaller blossoms and is what I would call “dainty”. It is one of my favorite blue irises along with ‘Clyde Redmond’ (Arny, Charles 1970) which is registered as “cornflower blue self”.

'Boiled Crawfish'

‘Boiled Crawfish’ (Guidry, R 2016) is a “newcomer” and an “eye-catcher”.  I can only assume the name comes from the color of crawfish that have been boiled.  Great name for a Louisiana iris as Louisiana is certainly the home of boiled crawfish, spicy and hot.

'Creole Rhapsody'

'Creole Rhapsody'

‘Creole Rhapsody’ (Mertzweiller, J 1998) is registered as 30-34” in height but grows much taller for me.  It is one of the prettiest bit-ones in my opinion and while the ploidy level is blank, it come from a tetraploid seeding crossed with

'Dancing Vogue'

‘Dancing Vogue’ (Taylor, J.C. 1991) is a pretty pink iris from Australia.  Mr. Taylor has produced a lot of nice Louisiana irises.  I like the color and I guess “pink” is close enough.

'Dark Dude'

‘Dark Dude’ (Betzer, Ron 2010) is, to my opinion, the darkest Louisiana iris.  The second darkest is 

‘Bout Midnight’ (Dunn, Mary 1988) and is the pod parent of ‘Dark Dude’. 'Dark Dude' is one of the Mary Swords Debaillon Medal winners in 2019.

'Extra Dazzle'

   ‘Extra Dazzle’ (Pryor, Heather 2003) is certainly properly named.  There is so much dazzling about this iris I do not know where to begin.  The green style arms are so striking.  The signal on all petals give the middle of the iris an eye-catching beauty.  Heather and Bernard Pryor, of Australia, have hybridized some amazing irises.

'Flareout'

‘Flareout’ (Granger, M 1988) is often misspelled as “Flare Out” so if you search for it, be sure you spell it correctly.  Marvin Granger found a “cartwheel” form growing in the wild and collected it.  He hybridized it into several other doubles or cartwheel form and I enjoy all of them.  ‘Flareout is a beautiful blue and the blooms are as flat as a plate.  If you like this flower form, look up ‘Rose Cartwheel’ (Granger, M 1980) for the rose colored one. Granger registered 43 Louisiana irises.

'Good Doctor'

‘Good Doctor’ (Mertzweiller, J) is a nice white self with a greenish yellow signal.  There is not an excess of white Louisiana irises and I hope someone is working on producing more pure white irises.  Dr. Mertzweiller is more noted for his work with tetraploid LA irises.

'Gulf Moon Glow'

‘Gulf Moon Glow’ (Faggard, A 1994) has been around a long time and is grow in many gardens.  Mr. Faggard failed to introduce this iris and it caused confusion in many iris shows, “is it a seedling or should it be in the registered section?”.  I finally introduced it for him in 2017 to end the confusion. It is one of my top 10 favorite LA irises.

'Hush Money'

If you read my “blog” from time to time, you know that ‘Hush Money’ (Dunn, Mary 1998) is probably in the top 5 for me.  I love the name and the iris.  It is a smaller flower with shorter foliage.  It has an impressive genealogy.  I simply love the colors and the form of this beautiful iris.

'Longue Vue'

‘Longue Vue’ (Haymon, Dormon 1999) is another well known and beautiful white iris.  It was named in honor of the Longue Vue Home and Gardens in New Orleans, a wonderful place you should visit if ever in New Orleans.

'Mighty Rich'

‘Mighty Rich’ (Arny, Charles 1982) is properly named!  You can see it from far away.  It stands out!  Registered as “ruby red”, the bright yellow signal is striking.

'Our Parris'

‘Our Parris’ (Carroll, C 1987) also has a tricky name.  Usually one thinks of Paris, the city, but I assume this was named for a person.  The colors are very different, and it is registered as “cream ground with peach to dusty pink overtones”.  Some irises are just simply hard to describe.

'Pointe Aux Chenes'

‘Pointe Aux Chenes’ (Musacchia, Joe 2005) is registered as “golden peach self”.  It is an interesting color with darker veining.  Pointe Aux Chenes is a city in Louisiana that is know for being a wonder location for red fishing and is just south of Houma, the area in which Joe lives.  He, along with Patrick O’Connor, love to name irises for places and things in south Louisiana.

'Praline Festival'

‘Praline Festival’ (Haymon, Dormon 1992) is a color that is hard to describe.  Registered as “cream, heavily veined and dusted rose-tan” might do the job.  The name raises another question. Does it connect to the Praline Festival held in Houma, LA, where there is a contest on the best and biggest pralines, or is it about the famous candy of south Louisiana, pralines?  Pralines are described as “a confection of nuts (make that pecans or pe cans depending on where you live) and sugar.  Wikidiff proclaims that pralines are made from almonds, but I beg to disagree. Real pralines are made with pecans.

'Royal Velour'

‘Royal Velour’ (Conger, Sidney 1953) is certainly velvety.  Check out the difference in meaning between velour and velvet.   I love this iris because I knew Sidney, lived in the same town (Arcadia, LA) and it is a great example of an “oldie but goodie”.

'Seminole Moon'

‘Seminole Moon’ (Wolford, Harry 2009) is a color you do not see often in irises.  Registered as “yellow” but certainly has more colors than just yellow.  And you must love those green style arms.  Harry registered quite a few “Seminole ____” (fill in the blank) and that is not surprising, since he lives in Seminole country, Florida, home of the Seminoles, FL State University as well as the native Americans.

'Splitter Splatter'

‘Splitter Splatter’ (Grieves, D. R. 2004) is probably loved by members of the Novelty Iris Society (https://www.facebook.com/groups/168887036782669/).  I could not find the address of their website, but this is their Facebook group. I love this iris because it is different.  The bleeding pattern on each petal differs from bloom to bloom but is always there in one form or another.

If you often read my blogs, you probably noticed I repeat myself.  I can not help it, I have favorites and although I like just about every iris I see, some stand out for me.  If you love something, share it with others.  Who knows, they may learn to love it also.

To learn more about Louisiana irises, visit their website here.

Joint American Iris Society and Society for Louisiana Irises Convention in New Orleans

by Patrick O'Connor and pictures by Ron Killingsworth

Plan now to attend the joint convention in New Orleans.  Perhaps this garden on the tours will tempt you!

The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, New Orleans, LA

The Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden is one of New Orleans’ brightest attractions.  Like the City, it is both old and young.  Designed initially to display a permanent collection of over fifty sculptures by twentieth-and twenty-first century American, European, Latin American, Israeli and Japanese artist, the nearly five-acre garden was dedicated by the New Orleans Museum of Art in November 2003.  It sits in a prime spot in historic City Park, adjacent to the Museum and not far from the confluence of Bayou St. John and the remnant of Bayou Metairie where the park’s extensive system of bayou-like lagoons beings.

Located in one of the Park’s oldest sections, the Sculpture Garden is itself transected by a lagoon and crossed today by modern bridges that offer beautiful views of the Garden.  The original landscape design for the Garden called for Iris pseudacorus, the European native, rather than Louisiana irises.  Hurricane Katrina took care of the anomaly.  The magnificent Live Oak trees survived, but the lingering brackish water destroyed much of the under-story planting in City Park, including the pseudacorus in the Sculpture Garden.

Live Oaks and Spanish moss

A virtual blank slate was created along the lagoon banks.  Several iris growers and enthusiasts were among the volunteers who emerged to participate in the Garden’s – and in the Park’s – rebirth.  These growers donated Louisiana iris rhizomes by the thousands. The plants were maintained in pools and tubs and planted out by multiple groups of volunteers in several waves over a couple of years.

State Flower of Louisiana

 

Coincidentally, the Garden occupies the site of an historic iris garden that was created during the frenzy of iris activity in 1930s New Orleans not long after the plants were “discovered” in the wild and promoted for the benefit of modern horticulture.  Dubbed a “Rainbow Memorial,” the original plantings are long gone, but it is fitting that the Sculpture Garden created a path for the return of native irises.

Lagoon in Sculpture Garden

 Today, the Garden boasts fabulous new sculptures and is embellished by Louisiana irises in every imaginable color along the banks of the lagoon.  A permanent Display Garden features named cultivars to accompany extensive mixed plantings.

Each Spring, the Sculpture Garden, along with the Greater New Orleans Iris Society, hosts a Louisiana Iris Rainbow Festival.  The Festival is a one day event that features music and presentations on the irises.  It offers the public an opportunity to stroll among the fabulous sculptures and the beautiful irises and to enjoy the Sculpture Garden at a particularly beautiful time of the year.  Admission to the Besthoff Sculpture Garden is free, a rare and wonderful gift to visitors and New Orleans residents alike.

The New Orleans Botanical Garden offers the richest, most varied display of plants in the City.  Opened to the public in 1936 as part of a Works Progress Administration project, the Botanical Garden’s twelve acres are home to 2,000 varieties of plants surrounded by the Live Oaks typical of City Park.  City Park is the sixth largest urban park in the country and boasts the nation’s largest stand of mature Live Oaks.

Theme gardens in the Botanical Garden are dedicated to aquatics, roses, native plants, ornamentals, trees, shrubs and perennials and shade plants.  The Conservatory of the Two Sisters features a simulated tropical rain-forest and a magnificent fern collection.  Irises are scattered throughout the Garden and include a planting of recent cultivars near the Shade Garden.

The Art Deco style is evident in the Botanical Garden, which also features sculptures by the celebrated WPA artist Enrique Alferez.  His original sculptures are spotted throughout, but two new and exciting garden attractions were added last year:  the Helis Foundation Enrique Alferez Sculpture Garden, with additional sculptures by Alferez, and a beautiful arrival garden with a green wall and an infinity water feature.

Front of Museum of Art

To learn more about City Park in New Orleans go to their website.

To learn more about the 2018 AIS and SLI convention in New Orleans, visit the convention website http://www.2018irisconvention.org

To make reservations at the convention hotel, visit the Hilton New Orleans Airport Hotel website (http://group.hilton.com/American-Iris-Society

For more information on the American Iris Society here.

To visit the Society for Louisiana Iris website click here