Some Louisiana Irises

By Ron Killingsworth

Louisiana Iris 'Adell Tingle'

The real Adell Tingle surrounded by the
irises that she loved

‘Adell Tingle’ (Hutchins, B 2006 LA) was the first iris we produced from hybridizing.  It was named for my mother’s sister, Aunt Adell.  Adell attended many Louisiana iris conventions and was an expert on plants native to Louisiana.  

Clump of Louisiana Iris 'Her Highness'

This picture shows a large clump of ‘Her Highness” (Levingston 1957 LA) growing near a pond we use to raise crawfish.  ‘Her Highness’ is a collected i.giganticaerulea, one of the species of Louisiana irises.

Louisiana Iris 'Fringed Gold' and others near Koi Pond

We grow Louisiana irises in dug beds, raised beds, along the edge of the lake, around the edge of ponds and mixed in with other plants.  These irises (mostly ‘Fringed Gold’ (Shepard, DL 1992 LA) are growing near the Koi pond and are watched over by two large long legged cranes. The home of my sister, Bobbie Ann (a nutritionist), and brother-in-law, Stan, is in the background.  Stan was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but when they retired (a gastroenterologist) he wanted a “southern plantation home”.  We could find the home and we could find the location, but never could find both together.  They finally bought 21 acres on Caddo Lake and built the double gallery home you see in the background.  We all call it the “Big House”.

Louisiana iris 'Fringed Gold'

 This is a closer view of ‘Fringed Gold’, one of my favorite Louisiana irises.

Iris.nelsonii - one of the species of Louisiana irises

One of the species of Louisiana iris is i.nelsonii.  This is a clump of that species growing in an area we call the “deer meadow”.

Louisiana irises growing in edge of "Crawfish Pond"

Louisiana irises love water!  These are some of my seedlings (irises grown from seeds that resulted from hybridizing two irises) that I did not think worthy of further development and planted around the edge of a pond in which we grow crawfish. Every year when they bloom I wonder why I “threw them out”.

Dutch Irises

We also grow Dutch irises, Spuria irises, i.pseudacorus, i.virginica and a lot of native plants.  This picture is of a purple Dutch iris in bloom.

Here in NW Louisiana we seldom have snow but are often “blessed” with freezing rain.  Next to my house is a large patch of bamboo.  Sue fights it each year as it tries to expand into her flower beds and yard.  This picture shows ice covered bamboo blocking the road to my house.

Ice covered bamboo

Seed pod from State Flower of Louisiana

Louisiana irises are the official wildflower of the State of Louisiana.  The state flower is shared with several other southern states.  I won’t tell you what the state flower is, but see if you can identify this seed pod from the state flower of Louisiana.

"Naked Ladies" -- Lycoris radiata

Spring around here is full of blooming flowers.    We also have many flowers that bloom in late fall. These fall bloomers are commonly called “naked ladies”, “surprise lilies”, “magic lilies”, “spider lilies”, etc.  The official name is Lycoris and those in this picture, the red ones, are Lycoris radiata.

Spuria irises growing between fruit trees

These are Spuria irises growing among fruit trees.

Louisiana irises in dug beds

This is a nice view of about 100 beds of Louisiana irises located near Caddo Lake and of course irrigated from the lake.

Irises and "hardy glads"

This is a view of a massive planting in what once was a part of our vegetable garden in front of my house, looking toward the Big House.  You can see the purple martin bird houses in the background and to the far left background you can see the top of the green house.

Louisiana irises in "deer meadow"

The bed of irises on the right are mostly species Louisianas and the irises on the left are mostly tetraploid Louisiana irises.  The “creek” in the background is a “water feature” and flows over several small dams and back into Caddo Lake.

Louisiana irises with Caddo Lake in background

Here is another view of Louisiana irises growing in beds with Caddo Lake and bald cypress trees in the background.

 This picture shows several different tetraploid Louisiana irises (mostly named “Professor fill in the blank”) with Caddo Lake and bald cypress trees in the background.

Mass planting of Louisiana irises in front of my house

 This is another view of a massive planting of irises in front of my house.  The Big House is in the background and purple martin "hotels" background on left.

Green house and irises

Here you see the green house, near the Koi pond, with Louisiana irises in the foreground.  The large rocks are sand stone and will be used to create a “water feature” on the side of the Koi pond.

Another group of irises near the pier.

 That’s my house in the background.  You can compare the home of a retired doctor with my home, the home of a retired US Army officer). It is very “southern” with large porches front and rear.  It is cedar sided and up on piers (off the ground).  Never build a house with a basement in Louisiana unless you want a swimming pool under your home!  ‘Hope and Glory’ (Sloan, R 2008 LA) is the iris in the middle, the tall one.

Here is another view of my home and to the right, near the tree covered with English ivy, are some of Sue’s old species Tall Bearded irises.  Since the Louisiana irises are blooming in this picture, the TB’s have probably already bloomed out.

Louisiana irises growing on edge of Caddo Lake

Louisiana irises like water.  Did I mention that?  That does not mean they will not grow with other plants, just don’t grow them with your cacti!  These irises are growing on the edge of Caddo Lake.

This is a view of Louisiana irises in the foreground with i.pseudacorus growing in the background.  The pier leads out to the boat house.

Pictured is another group of Louisiana irises, probably ‘Longue Vue’ (Haymon, D 1999 LA), with the lake and cypress trees in far background.

This pretty view shows Caddo Lake in the very back, the crawfish pond in the middle and a large group of Louisiana irises in the front.  You can see another long iris bed in the left back side of the picture.

Mixed poppies growing with Louisiana irises

 Louisiana irises grow well with other plants.  This pictures shows a large group of various poppies growing in the edge of the iris beds.

This is another view of the irises over by the Koi pond.  They seem to be happy here judging from the size of the bloom stems.  The bridge used to go across to an island in the pond but the Koi undermined the soil around the island until it became too small for the bridge to reach the island.

 The irises in the middle are several of Stan’s tetraploid seedlings.  The large marble fish is a recent addition to the Koi pond and actually “spits” water when working.  The Big House is seen in the background.

It is easy to take pictures when you have so many beautiful things to photograph.  It is hard to find an space around here in which Louisiana irises do NOT grow.

A different but pretty view of the irises with Caddo Lake in the background.

This is the third pond, the catfish pond, with irises growing around the edge.  In the background is a large planting of “Professors”, many of the tetraploid Louisiana irises named by Joe Mertzweiller, who produced many of the first Louisiana iris tetraploids and named them for his professor friends at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

I told you Louisiana irises grow well with other plants. These are mixed in with various trees and blooming shrubs.

Just a pretty picture of irises.  I can’t recall the name of this iris.  With over 500 varieties of Louisiana irises, it is difficult to recognize all of them.

"Old Cherokee" Rose blossom

Sue grows a lot of roses.  She has a pretty impressive collection of antique roses.  This one is “Old Cherokee” and has the most beautiful bloom in the spring.  It is a climbing rose and when the petals fall off, they cover the ground like snow.  I think the bloom resembles the bloom of the dogwood tree.

Louisiana iris 'Our Friend Harry' in middle

 I had to have at least one of my irises in these pictures.  This picture of ‘Our Friend Harry’ (Killingsworth, R 2011 LA) was taken by the Koi pond.  I don’t recall the name of the iris on the right.

"Pink Cascade" peach tree

 My sister has planted many different fruit trees around the property.  ‘Pink Cascade’ is one of the varieties of peach tree that produces a beautiful bloom in the spring.

Large poppy blossoms

 We also have quite a few of these large poppies that return each year.  This is the “pink one” and we have another one the same size, but a double, and a more purple one.  We obtained the seeds for these from Marie Caillet of Little Elm, TX.  Marie is no longer with us but each time we see these poppies in the Spring, we are reminded of how much we miss her!

Louisiana iris 'Professor Marta Marie' - a tetraploid

‘Professor Marta Marie’ (Mertzweiller, J 1990 LA) is one of the tetraploid Louisiana irises.  Professor Mertzweiller named most of this first crop of his tetraploid irises for his fellow professors and workers at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  This one was named for Marta Marie Caillet, who worked and taught in the same department.

The older form of the Louisiana irises remains a favorite to me.  I really like it when the “stands” stand up and the “falls” fall down.  This form is common in the species.  I can’t recall the name of this one but it resembles ‘Dorothea K. Williamson’ (Williamson, E 1918 LA), a cross between i.fulva and i.brevicaulis.

Louisiana iris 'Red Velvet Elvis'

Kevin Vaughn of Salem, OR, lived most of his life in MS and is a well known “weed scientist”.  He hybridized this iris, ‘Red Velvet Elvis’ (Vaughn, K 1996 LA) which won the Mary Swords DeBaillion Medal (MSDM) in 2005.  http://www.louisianas.org/index.php/awards/52-history-of-the-mary-swords-debaillon-medal-by-marie-caillet  The MSDM is the highest award for a Louisiana Iris and is awarded by votes from the official American Iris Society (AIS) ballot voted by AIS judges each year.  This was taken by the Koi pond.

  

As I said previously, we seldom get snow here in NW LA but last year it snowed twice.  This picture, however, was taken after a really heavy sleet storm in February 2015.  The commercial nursery is located on property that was once a summer camp for underprivileged children run by the YMCA.  The cabins in the background were once two girls cabins and two boys cabins.  They are now used for different purposes. You can see the purple martin “hotel” in the right center.  This is the vegetable garden with massive plantings of Louisiana irises to the left.

Spring bloom is always a wonderful time of the year and this shows blooming shrubs and trees in front of the Big House.

My wife, Sue has her own collection of flowers and roses.  This shows some of her roses beside the house with several old species Tall Bearded irises getting ready to bloom.

"Naked Ladies" have a very interesting blossom

 The “surprise lilies” or “naked ladies” are really amazing flowers.  They put out a bloom stalk and bloom and then later the foliage appears.  This close up picture shows the details of the amazing bloom.

Tall Bearded iris 'Royal Invitation'

This part of the country does not lend itself to growing Tall Bearded irises.  It is simply too hot and we have too much rain to please this species of irises.  Sue does manage to grow quite a few Tall Bearded irises by covering the beds with raised plastic sheets during the spring downpours.  This is a picture of ‘Royal Invitation’ (Nichols, H 2009 TB).

Louisiana Iris 'Kristi G'

‘Kristi G’ (Mertzweiller, J 1985 LA) is one of the best “garden” irises we grow.  It is very hardy and has tremendous increase each year.

Sometimes an iris will get an extra burst of growth and stick its head up out of the clump.  This one caught my eye and I just thought it made a nice picture.  There are many beautiful yellow Louisiana irises but I failed to note the name of this one.

Louisiana iris species planting in the Northlake Nature Center near New Orleans

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.

Natural, native I. virginica irises are found throughout the Center.

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.

The shoreline of the beaver pond in the Nature Center is home to many I. viginica irises.

I. virginica in the cypress/gum tree swamp area. Although I. virginica is native to the north shore and other parts of central and north Louisiana it is not a Louisiana iris species.  Its range is through the east and central United States and up into Canada.

Rue McNeill and her rescue dog, Sam, shown next to volunteer Richard Drouant, were the cheering squad as Richard and two other GNOIS members planted the Louisiana irises. She is encouraging the GNOIS to plant all five Louisiana iris species there and has offered the group any assistance that they may need to accomplish this.

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.

GNOIS member and volunteer Gary Salathe.

Many of the I. giganticaerulea were planted right next to one of the boardwalk bridges in the front part of the Nature Center. People on the bridge will be able to view the irises from only about 10' away.

The I. giganticaerulea iris is one of five Louisiana iris species. It is also known as the “Giant Blue Iris” and is the state wildflower. Once found in abundance in southeast Louisiana marshes, it has been decimated over the last one hundred years by salt water intrusion through man-made canals and hurricane flood waters.

The site the group chose for the I. fulva planting faces south and should get direct sunlight for a few hours each day during the summer. The open spot was likely created when the tree shown in the photo fell down, which created an opening in the tree canopy. The irises were planted among cypress tree knees in about 1" of water and mucky soil. The site is only 6' away from the trail.

Richard and Carol Drouant at the site of the I. fulva planting.  About fifty I. fulva irises were planted there. 

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.