Joint American Iris Society and Louisiana Iris Society Convention

by Patrick O'Connor and Ron Killingsworth

The joint convention will be held in New Orleans with the AIS convention starting on April 8^th, 2018 and ending April 13^th.  The SLI part of the convention begins April 11^th and ends April 14^th.  Attendees may sign up for any or all of the conventions activities and tours.  See the Convention Web Site here..

This is a great opportunity to see New Orleans and to enjoy some fantastic gardens.  While visitors will not see any Tall Bearded irises or any of the other species of irises normally seen at an AIS convention, they will see more Louisiana irises than at any other convention.

Take advantage of this chance to attend a great and unusual convention.  Get your registration in quickly!

Let me tempt you with a short preview of some of the gardens on tour.

Baton Rouge Botanic Garden

The Louisiana irises in the Botanic Garden in Independence Park in Baton Rouge originated with the efforts of the late Joseph Mertzweiller, a major hybridizer and guiding force in SLI.  Joe conceived of the iris garden and donated the irises at the core of the original planting, most of which  survive in a well planned setting that makes them readily accessible to the public.  There is no charge for admission to this Garden, which also features daylilies, roses, herbs, camellias and crape myrtles, and gingers.

'Freddie Boy' one of Joe Mertzweiller's diploid irises that wears its years very well

'Full Eclipse' by Ben Hager in a clump

'Misty Boyou' by Joe Musacchia

Iris Pavilion

Original plans for the garden called for the construction of an “Iris Pavilion.”  With admirable long term adherence to the plan and the support of volunteers as well as Baton Rouge Recreation and Parks, the Pavilion  now sits in a prominent place in the Garden.  The Garden will feature Guest Irises for the Convention and other recent cultivars as well as many of Joe Mertzweiller’s tetraploid and diploid irises.  A nice mix of old and new cultivars.

 

A Louisiana Pond

Gary and Leigh Anne Salathe’s pond near Madisonville, LA, is testimony to inspired vision and perseverance.  The pond is in a subdivision common area adjacent to their home.  With the farsighted support of subdivision owners, Gary has turned it into a beautiful and unique destination.

'Praline Festival' by Dorman Haymon

"Atchafalaya' by Farron Campbel (Augh chaf a lie ya)

Gary and Leigh Anne house on the pound

Large clump of red iris.nelsonii

 “A Louisiana Pond” displays a mix of irises, including all five species, including I. hexagona from Florida, a few natural hybrids, and old and new hybrid cultivars.  It is evolving year to year with more and more hybrids to accompany the original planting that included lots of I. giganticaerulea and I. virginica, a native iris not in the Louisiana group.

The Black Swamp

The Black Swamp is a small bottomland, rain-fed swamp that probably was a river-fed swamp before the building of levees.  The canopy consists of water tupelo and black tupelo with some swamp red maple.  The tannins leached from the leaves of the black tupelo make the water appear black, although it is actually a clear light brown.

Boardwalk at Black Swamp

Boardwalk and Louisiana irises at Black Swamp

 

Clumps of blue and white iris.giganticaerulea and iris.nelsonii are thriving in the water of Black Swamp

Blue i.giganticaerulea growing in Black Swamp

No irises were found in this swamp, although it looks as if there should have been.  In 2015, Benny Trahan donated 200 rhizomes of I. giganticaerulea, fulva and nelsonii, which were planted by members of the Greater New Orleans Iris Society at the request of Burden.  At the time of the planting, the water level was so low that it was possible to walk through without boots.  Many of the irises planted were just starts about six inches tall, and when the water returned, they were inundated before they could become established.  Only about sixty or so survived, but those have thrived and are forming large clumps that look as if they are in their native swamp habitat.  The first good bloom of these plants occurred in 2017.

Burden Rural Life and Windrush Gardens

The Rural Life Museum is the best known of the several components that make up LSU’s Burden Museum and Gardens.  The spectacular Windrush Gardens sits adjacent to Rural Life, and both are but small parts - in terms of space - of the entire 440 acre Burden property.   A developing LSU AgCenter Botanic Garden, which includes the Black Swamp, is another component, and a great deal of additional space is devoted to agricultural research.

A highly recommended trip to the Burden website will do far more justice to the Rural Life Museum than is possible here.  On the Convention tour, Rural Life, Windrush and the Black Swamp will all be available, but one could easily spend an entire day at Burden.

Rural Life consists of a “village” of over 30 unique buildings and a Visitor’s Center displaying an extensive collection of artifacts.

Old statuary can be found throughout Windrush

Rural Life Museum is noted for its historical buildings and equpiment

Statue at Windrush

Antique wagons and farming equipment at Rural Life

Louisiana irises growing in pond at Windrush Gardens

Pond and Louisiana irises at Windrush Gardens

Statue in water feature with Louisiana irises at Windrush Gardens

Windrush Gardens was designed by Steele Burden and covers 25 acres of mostly shady paths interspersed by mature trees, azaleas, camellias and crape myrtles.  It is decorated with fascinating, old architectural features, especially statuary.

On the perimeter of Windrush Gardens, several large ponds feature plantings of older varieties of Louisiana irises.  There is too much shade in the Garden proper for Louisiana irises to thrive.

Burden is not a property that features Louisiana irises, although a significant planting is planned.  Irises will be seen here and there in various locations, in the Windrush ponds, in the Black Swamp and in another old pond nearby that also contains many specimens of I. virginica.

This is just a sample of the many gardens on tour during the conventions.  Attendees will also have time to visit the famous French Quarter and other attractions in the city of New Orleans.

To learn more about Louisiana irises, visit the Society for Louisiana Irises web site.  To learn more about the American Iris Society visit the web site.  To learn more about New Orleans, visit this web site.

Other tours during the convention include the Longue Vue House and Gardens.  The Sidney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden contains over fifty sculptures and many plantings of Louisiana irises.  You also do not want to miss seeing the New Orleans Botanical Garden.  Did I mention that the National World War II Museum is also located in New Orleans and is the place to visit if you are interested in WWII.  There are just too many other great places to visit in the New Orleans area.

So, pack your bags and head out to New Orleans in April!  Hope to see you there.

New Color Combinations in Plicatas

Editor’s Note: In recent blogs, Bryce Williamson wrote how the first good pink plicata, April Melody (Iris Stories: April Melody and Iris Stories: April Melody 2), expanded the range of colors in that group. Today’s hybridizers  have been  combining plicata patterns with other tall bearded iris patterns, taking plicata irises in new and exciting directions. Keith Keppel here shares a peek at some these developments in his Salem, Oregon, garden. Please remember, however, that these seedlings represent work in progress and most will not make the cut to naming and introduction based on plant growth or other factors.

By Keith Keppel

For the benefit of iris newbies, perhaps we should explain "plicata". Plicata is a pattern with a white or carotene colored (yellow, pink, orange) ground, the edges stitched, stippled, or solidly banded in a darker, contrasting color. This seedling (09-93C,  Ink Patterns child) is an example of the color and pattern of early plicatas...always white ground, markings in the blue to violet range.

Standards could be almost solidly colored or devoid of markings entirely; falls could be so widely banded that only a small area in the center is unmarked, or all markings could be confined to the haft (upper area at beard level) with little or no marginal marking on the rest of the fall. Many ultimate pattern variations can occur, and considering color combinations of ground and markings, the overall effects are almost limitless.

Image by Keith Keppel

Although the first plicatas had a white ground, crosses with Iris variegata brought yellow genes into the hybrid line. In the 1930's, plicatas with cream grounds began occurring, and in the following years the cream has progressed to yellow. Here is a Sorbonne seedling to show just how intense we can now have our yellow grounds.

Image by Barry Blyth

In the 1950's, plicatas with the tangerine beard factor began to make an appearance in iris catalogues. Although they still had white grounds, with time this has changed, and we now have plicatas with pink, or pinkish, grounds instead of white or yellow. This is another Sorbonne seedling, actually a sister to the yellow ground seedling in the prior post!

Image by Barry Blyth

The tangerine-factor plicatas began showing orange tones in the ground color, also. This one is 11-64C, from complicated breeding with Sorbonne and three numbered seedlings as grandparents.

When you consider that those original blue/violet plicata markings will appear differently on a yellow, pink, or orange ground than they did on white, you can understand why so many plicata color combinations now exist!

Image by Barry Blyth

So many pattern variations based on the plicata genes, yet there are still more  possibilities. Plicata markings are done in anthocyanin (water soluble) pigments....what if you change the capability of the plicata genes to act?

Enter Paul Cook. In the 1950's this master hybridizer began introducing a series of irises which carried an inhibitor for the production of anthocyanins....in the standards. These were the dominant amoenas (prior amoenas were due to a different, recessive condition), also referred to as the 'Progenitor' or 'Whole Cloth' factor. By the 1970's we  had plicatas which also carried this factor, with suppressed markings in the standards but not the falls. We suddenly had "neglecta plicatas", with paler markings in the standards, and "amoena plicatas" with little or no standard markings. A whole new range of plicata variables was now possible.

In 12-103J, a grandchild of Ink Patterns, you can see how the plicata standard markings are reduced to a very faint bluish shading along the petal margins. This seedling also carries the "tangerine factor", hence the reddish beard hair tips and the faint peach pink blush on the otherwise white ground near the beard. A tangerine-bearded amoena-plicata.

Image by Brad Collins

The appearance of a plicata depends on the sum of its parts: markings + ground. If we take that amoena plicata and put it on a yellow ground....voila!....a variegata plicata. (And by extension, that yellow ground could also be pink or orange instead.) This is 13-17A, from High Desert X Flash Mob.

Image by Brad Collins

Just as the pigment application of plicata markings can vary, so can the application of carotene (yellow, pink, orange) pigment in the ground. Most colored grounds will have some white, or at least a paler area, in the center of the falls. Fall color can vary from a distinct marginal band (like the falls on 'Debby Rairdon') to a small spot below the beard. Rarely, the color can cover the entire fall uniformly.

But what about other ground patterns? It might be strongly colored hafts or upper fall. Or possibly some variation of a carotene amoena, with or without the color bleeding upward in the midrib of the otherwise-white standards.

13-21A, (Ink Pattern seedling X Dark Energy), shows a yellow amoena style ground; anthocyanin reduction in the standards minimalizes the plicata markings.

Image by Brad Collins

Iris ensata, Iris laevigata and Pseudata in Containers

By Chad Harris

Iris ensata and laevigata have been cultivated with container culture for centuries. In Japan several different flower forms and indoor display regulations were specifically formatted for container growing of Iris ensata. You may also find that growing these water lovers and the new hybrid “Pseudata” in containers easier, as you will have better control of the rich moist soils that they demand.

Soils: A good soilless container potting medium should be used. Here at Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm we use ‘Miracle-Grow’ with 6 month feeding. We use it not only for the patio container, but also for the germination of the seed of our breeding lines.

Container: A one gallon container is the minimum, for a single or double fan plant. This will keep the plant for one growing season, requiring yearly transplanting.

One gallon containers need to be transplanted yearly for the health of your plant and container.

I highly recommend that a larger container be used; three to five gallon will be optimum for two to three year growing seasons. Note that the size of containers for starting seed is a one half gallon.

Seedlings in half gallon containers.

The seedlings are grown for one to two years in this size before being transplanted out to the field.

Light: Full sun with a minimum of six hours to bloom properly. Areas with more intense sun and or heat will find that morning sun and afternoon shade will benefit both the plant and the bloom. While the plant wants to be in the sun the root zone needs to be kept cool. With a large collection this can be achieved placing the containers close to each other while shading the outside containers with planks boxing them in. The smaller collection the shading can be achieved by double potting.

Shading the poly container by double potting.

Placing the smaller container into a larger heavier decorative ceramic container, this is the method that we use on our patio. One could also use a very large decorative container that could hold several smaller poly or plastic containers. A clump look with many different varieties can be achieved without mixing them up, losing their names.

Iris ensata in containers.

Water: These plants are water lovers and should not dry out, keep evenly moist. During the summer this may demand a daily watering. A deep tray filled with water will allow the plant to stay completely hydrated for longer periods of time. For larger collections a child’s wading pool could be used, or a box made of planks lined with a pool liner. Drill holes into the sides one to two inches from the bottom for overflow drainage. The rhizome of the plant should be above the waterline, this is critical for Iris ensata especially during the winter months. Iris laevigata can grow with its crown under water with two inches covering; however it is best to start the new plant above the waterline to help prevent rot. You can gradually submerge the plant after new growth appears. Pseudata (being half Iris ensata) I would play it safe and would grow as Iris ensata, with the rhizome above the waterline.

Iris ensata in containers.

Fertilizer: Use a slow release for acid loving plants mixed into the potting mix. Or use a water-soluble and add directly to the water. Do not use Bone Meal in any application as this will change the PH and can kill these acidic loving plants.

Iris  laevigata in patio containers.

Transplanting: Repot right after bloom, discarding the old soil, roots, and rhizome. The new rhizomes are in a full growth mode at this time through the summer and fall until the winter sets in.

First frost: time to cut the foliage back.

Winter Care: After a light freeze, cut all of the foliage off at container level. Mild winter areas (USDA Zone 8-9) containers can remain out in the pools and or above ground. Colder climates the containers should be lifted from the flooding pools or trays and buried in a prepared bed with a good mulch cover. In the spring return the containers to the flooding pool, lightly fertilize after new growth starts to appear.

For the many that have tried to grow these water lovers in their garden and have failed, give container growing a try. It is definitely easier to maintain their demanding cultural needs of a rich moist soil. You may also be able to push the envelope of where they have not been grown before surprising your iris club at your next show. Give one a try.