Showing posts with label The Society for Louisiana irises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Society for Louisiana irises. Show all posts

Friday, August 26, 2022

The American Iris Society Announces the 2022 DeBaillon Medal Winner

'WATERMELON WIZARD'

The DeBaillon Medal is restricted to Louisiana (LA) irises. It is named in honor of Mary Swords DeBaillon (1888-1940). Mary DeBaillon realized how varied Louisiana irises were and what lovely garden plants they were. Mary DeBaillon amassed the largest collection of Louisiana irises in the world. She was tireless in promoting these irises as good garden plants and in encouraging any who would listen to grow them. She gained considerable fame as a naturalist and native plant collector.

Previous awards winners can be found at https://wiki.irises.org/Main/InfoAwards.


A Louisiana iris with pink standards and falls, darker magenta veining and lines throughout; signals small gold line.
'Watermelon Wizard'
photo by Riley Probst

'Watermelon Wizard' (Hooker Nichols, R. 2011) Seedling LA 05-70. LA, 36 (91 cm), Late midseason bloom. Standards and falls salmon-raspberry blend, darker veining and lines throughout; signals small gold line. 'Heather Pryor' X 'Guessing Game'. Introduced by Hillcrest Iris Gardens in 2011.

The World of Irises blog will be posting classification medal winners as soon as the hybridizers are notified. The entire list of winners, including Award of Merit and Honorable Mention, will be published on the AIS website, the AIS Encyclopedia, and later in the AIS Bulletin, IRISES.

Saturday, August 28, 2021

The American Iris Society Announces the 2021 DeBaillon Medal Winners

'WHEN PIGS FLY' and 'ROOSTER'

The DeBaillon Medal is restricted to Louisiana (LA) irises. It is named in honor of Mary Swords DeBaillon (1888-1940). Mary DeBaillon realized how varied Louisiana irises were and what lovely garden plants they were. Mary DeBaillon amassed the largest collection of Louisiana irises in the world. She was tireless in promoting these irises as good garden plants and in encouraging any who would listen to grow them. She gained considerable fame as a naturalist and native plant collector.

Editor’s Note: Due to the pandemic last year, the American Iris Society Board of Directors suspended garden awards. As a result, and for only this year, two medals will be award in this area. Previous awards winners can be found at https://wiki.irises.org/Main/InfoAwards.

'WHEN PIGS FLY' (Patrick O'Connor)

'When Pigs Fly' (Patrick O'Connor, R. 2012) Seedling 10-34. LA, 30-32 (7701 cm), Midseason late bloom. Standards pale amber on opening fading to pearl-white; style arms cream-white; falls same as standards, deep yellow dagger signal outlined in bright violet radiating out about half the length and width of falls. 'Percolator' X 'Bellocq'. Zydeco 2013.

ROOSTER (Ron Betzer)

'Rooster' (Ron Betzer, R. 2013) Seedling 05-49-4. LA, 29 (74 cm), Early to midseason bloom. Standards light yellow, slight claret streak through middle, lightly feathered edges; style arms claret, some yellow on edges; Falls yellow, rusty-red veining and sometimes a rusty-red wash, claret rim and serrated edge, yellow blotch overlaid light green steeple signal. 'Shining Times' X 'Our Dorothy'. Iris City 2014.

The World of Irises blog will be posting classification medal winners as soon as the hybridizers are notified. The entire list of winners, including award of merit and honorable mention, will be published in the AIS website, the AIS Encyclopedia, and later in the AIS Bulletin, IRISES.

Monday, June 28, 2021

Louisiana Iris Seeds

By Hooker T. Nichols

This article is about how a relative new Louisiana iris hybridizer handles his ripened  Louisiana iris seeds.  There are two different roads one can travel upon when it comes time to harvest  your fully mature seeds and either plant them immediately or simply place them in a dry container until planting later  on in the year.


Cynthia Maldonado with seeds. Image from The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative  

Some of the few seasoned longtime  hybridizers harvest the seeds from the stalks when the pods begin to  turn nearly white just before they turn brow.  Some will tell you to plant the seeds immediately without nicking the corner of the seed or completely removing the cork covering from the seeds.  I personally have never  had the time to plant the seeds early post bloom season because as soon as the iris quit blooming I morph into a daylily and begin hybridizing daylilies.  If planted directly  into the soil or  individual gallon black pots you will get some  germination before fall  with the majority the following spring.


Image from The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative

I simply allow my pods to completely dry (turn brown) on the stalks.  I remove the seeds from  the ripened pods and place the complete  seed  lot  in  a Styrofoam cup.   After they have air dried, I put the cups in a cabinet and leave them there until early February.  Then each seed lot is planted in a one gallon black  pot with good soil.  In less than six weeks  I begin getting germination.  When the seedlings are  3  to 4 inches tall, I  transplant each seedling into its  own individual gallon pot when  it remains until September.  They are liquid fertilized every seven days until early September.  By that time, each  seedling has formed a small clump.  I tap the plant clumps out of  the pots and line them  out.  I get about 100% bloom the following spring because of out mild  winters and long growing season which is 200+ days per year.


Drawing Plate I. Dormon Caroline  By Their Fruits.

Following removing the seedlings from the pots, I then place the pots in full sun and let them bake all summer.  In early September I start watering the pots from which the 3-4 inch seedlings were earlier transplanted.  You will get another rush of germination.  The pots are healed in for the winter and the process is repeated again.  After the second individual transplanting is complete, I then dump the pots.

Louisianas bloom the same time as  the Spuria irises.  They are a  wonderful  way to extend your iris bloom season.   Try growing some of  the new Pseudata irises  and you can extend your iris  season  several more  weeks.

 Louisianas are adaptable to almost all soil types.    Plant the rhizomes about three inches in depth, fertilize them twice  a month  with either liquid or granular  fertilizer.  In hot areas, you much mulch them and one good watering a week in  the summer will keep them from going dormant. 

 This is the way I grow Louisiana iris in Texas and success has come my way.

Monday, November 16, 2020

LICI Starts Planting Irises In The Marsh For The 2020 Season


By Gary Salathe

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI), of which I am part of, recently began our first iris plantings out in the swamps and marshes of Southeast Louisiana for the 2020 fall and winter planting season. 

In a previous World of Irises posting I explained how our group locates native Louisiana irises that are threaten with destruction and, after getting the landowner’s permission, relocates the irises into public refuges and nature preserves.  The idea being that it is hard to get the public on board with helping to preserve and protect native Louisiana irises if they can’t experience them blooming because they can only be found in the deepest corners of the swamps and marshes hidden from view.   If we can’t bring the public to the irises then we will bring the irises to the public, is the idea.

Photo:  Volunteers on a Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative project working in July digging irises from a site west of New Orleans on property that is slated for development.

Starting in late May of this year, and especially in June and July, volunteers on multiple events organized by the LICI dug up around 6,000 I. giganticaerulea Louisiana species irises from properties that have plans for development, as donations from homeowners that removed irises from swamps and planted them on their property or from sites where irises from past rescued events were planted over the last two years. 

Photo:  Masks and social distancing was the order of the day in the summer LICI rescue events. 

The irises were planted into containers at an iris holding area we set up in New Orleans since they were dug up as the iris dormant season was about to begin.  The plan was for the irises to strengthen for a few months so that we could plant them in the swamps after they began their fall growth period.

Photo: Rescued irises being planted into containers in July at the LICI iris holding area in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood of New Orleans. 

We were finally ready to start planting irises in late October after a few close calls by hurricanes delayed us.   The first project on October 21st., which was held at the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge in New Orleans East, had just a small number of volunteers to show how these events would work for the refuge staff’s approval in the COVID 19 era.  Everything went well and I. giganticaerulea Louisiana species irises were planted.  A decision was made that we would be OK to expand the number of volunteers for future projects.

Photo:  The first irises of the 2020 planting season are dug up from our iris holding area on the morning of October 21st  to be planted at the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge.

 The second volunteer event was also a small one.  It was held at St. Bernard State Park, which is located southeast of New Orleans.  In the first of what we hope will be many,  I. giganticaerulea Louisiana species irises were planted, some threatened irises were dug up and an area of a pond bank was cleared of brush to help the public see the irises.

Photo:  Irises being planted at St. Bernard State Park on October 28th, the day before Hurricane Zeta hit New Orleans.

 The next day our iris holding area was hit by Hurricane Zeta on the evening of October 29th with the eye of the hurricane passing directly overhead!

 Photo:  The iris holding area after branches and other debris were picked up after the Hurricane Zeta.  A power pole leaned over at the entrance, but otherwise we escaped with no damage to the irises or the site.

 On November 4th we held our first large-scale iris planting volunteer event at the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge.  We went back to the refuge because the water level was down since winter rains had not begun yet.   This allowed us to get into areas that we have not been able to plant irises in over the last two years during events held in late December or early January due to the water being high.  During the event, which was organized by LICI, seventeen volunteers from various non-profits, including LICI volunteers, planted I. giganticaerulea Louisiana species irises.  The other groups included;  The Friends of the Refuge, Limitless Vistas, Common Ground Relief and the Native Plant Initiative of Greater New Orleans.

Photo:  Volunteers from various community non-profits involved in marsh restoration planting Louisiana irises on November 3rd in the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge.

We’re off to such a great start that we have a volunteer event planned with an area Boy Scout troop for Saturday, November 14th to go back to the site west of New Orleans and dig up more irises to replace the ones we have taken out of our iris holding area!  (The list of sites that have sent us a request to plant irises continues to grow.)

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative website can be found here: https://www.licisaveirises.com/

Our Facebook page can be found here:  https://www.facebook.com/Louisiana-Iris-Conservation-Initiative-104321594594214/?modal=admin_todo_tour

Monday, October 12, 2020

What is your favorite Louisiana Iris?


by Ron Killingsworth

When friends visit us during the bloom season for Louisiana irises, they are usually amazed at the diversity of the color and size of the flowers on Louisiana irises. After viewing thousands of irises in bloom, they never fail to ask, “Which is your favorite?”. Discounting my own introductions, it is hard to pick just one “favorite” Louisiana iris, when there are so many beautiful ones to choose from.

'Hush Money' (Mary Dunn 1998)

So, I will share some of my favorites with you. Maybe not the most favorite, but in the top ten, would be ‘Hush Money’ (Mary Dunn 98). ‘Hush Money’ won an honorable mention from the American Iris Society (AIS) in 2002. Registered as “stands cream with blue cast; falls cream, raised gold line signal” and “height 36”) does not completely describe this iris. It usually has style arms that are yellow at the top and green toward the bottom of the styles.  It has some ruffling on the falls.  The stands tend to stand up and the falls tend to have a graceful curving down to them. The foliage is never much taller than 36” and the flower is always in the right size for foliage that of that height.  The “blue cast” is very notable.  It is just a lovely small flowered iris. And, you have to love the name!

'Bajazzo' (Mary Dunn 1980)

Mary Dunn, of California, is no longer with us but she had a very productive career of hybridizing Louisiana irises.  She registered 128 Louisiana irises and won the Mary Swords Debaillion Award for ‘Monument’ (Mary Dunn 1977) in 1984.  She also won the Mary Swords Debaillion Medal (MSDM) for ‘Bajazzo’, ‘Rhett’, ‘Bayou Mystique’ and ‘Extraordinaire’. (By the way, she also registered ‘Scarlett’ so Rhett would not be lonely.) ‘Bayou Mystique’ (Mary Dunn 1988) just happens to also be one of my favorites. 

'Splitter Splatter' (D. R. Grieves 2004)

‘Splitter Splatter’ (D.R. Grieves 2004) is also one of my favorites. D. R. Grieves is a native of Kalamunda, West Australia, but interestingly, to my knowledge, was never a member of the Society for Louisiana Irises (SLI).  He probably belongs to some of the Australian iris organizations. Grieves registered 19 Louisiana irises from 2004 to present. I have never seen any of his other irises and ‘Splitter Splatter’, according to SLI records, has never been introduced in the USA. This one would probably be of interest to members of the Novelty Iris Society

'Heather Pryor' (John C. Taylor 1993)

 ‘Heather Pryor’ (John C. Taylor 1993) is also in my top ten favorites. Mr. Taylor spent a lot of time describing the iris when he registered it and the description is dead on.  It is a great garden iris and stands out in a crowd of blossoms.  The pastel colors really make it different along with the green style arms.  Taylor, of Sydney, Australia, registered 201 Louisiana irises.  The person Heather Pryor, of Australia, has also hybridized many beautiful Louisiana irises. With 153 Louisiana irises registered by 2019, she won the Mary Swords Debaillion Medal in 2004 and 2006 for ‘Peaches in Wine’ (97) and ‘Hot and Spicy’ (95) and her husband, Bernard, won the MSDM in 2016 for his ‘Blue Mountain Mist’ (2006).

'Dark Dude' (Ron Betzer 2010)

 ‘Dark Dude’ (Ron Betzer 2010) is probably my “darkest” favorite.  In fact, it is the darkest Louisiana irises I have grown and/or seen in person.  ‘Dark Dude’ won the MSDM in 2019, much deserved.  Its pod parent is ‘Bout Midnight’ (Mary Dunn 1988) (there is another Mary Dunn iris!) had been my darkest iris until Ron produced ‘Dark Dude’.

'Bout Midnight' (Mary Dunn 1988)

'Geisha Eyes' (Charles Arny 1987)

‘Geisha Eyes’ (Charles Arny 1987), an oldie but goodie is also in my top ten.  What an appropriate name! I was stationed in Okinawa for 18 months and passed through Japan several times.  Can not say I ever looked into a geisha’s eyes, but this iris has lovely “eyes”. The signal on all petals really make it stand out and it is a pleasing violet blue that holds the colors over many days.  It won an Honorable Mention in 1996 and an Award of Merit in 1999 but never progressed into the larger awards. It is of interest of me that the pod parent ‘Acadian Miss’ (Charles Arny 1980) is a beautiful white iris with green style arms while the pollen parent is ‘Valera’ (Charles Arny 1980), registered as apricot buff (and both of ‘Valera’s  parents are redish in color).  You never know what you are going to get when you cross two irises! Oh, those recessive genes!

Well, we could go on and on but that should be enough to hold your interest for at least a few minutes. Stay Safe and Stay Home. We will get over this mess.