The Pay-Off for a Year’s Work; Blooming Wild, Native Louisiana Irises Accessible to the Public.

By Gary Salathe

In my last World of Irises posting I wrote about the projects that the Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) had completed for the 2020 - 2021 fall and winter Louisiana iris planting season.  By hook and crook and bobbing and weaving we somehow pieced together enough volunteers during this year of COVID19 to rescue and plant 8,000 native Louisiana irises of the I. giganticaerulea species. 

We were able to get enough donations to build an iris holding area to plant the irises we rescued into containers.  The irises grew there for a few months until they strengthened up enough to be planted back out into the swamps during the fall and winter planting season.

The purpose of the program was to get wild native irises that were in harm’s way relocated to where the public could safely see them growing and blooming.  The ideal locations to accomplish this are along the raised swamp boardwalks in area refuges and nature preserves.  The boardwalks allow the public to safely experience Louisiana's swamps and their unique plants and animals.

We planted the last irises only six weeks before the bloom would typically have begun because we were stretched to the limit in time and available volunteers to get the job done.  After the first of the year we dug up the irises from their containers in clumps with most of the soil still attached instead of trying to plant individual rhizomes.  We hoped that by doing this the irises would not realize that they had been transplanted and would bloom a few weeks later.  Luckily, a severe late winter cold snap helped by slowing everything down so even these late planted irises had a chance to settle in.  Most ended up blooming once the delayed bloom finally began.

 Photo:  Volunteers planting irises during 

a LICI project at the US Fish & Wildlife 

Service's Bayou Sauvage National 

Wildlife Refuge in New Orleans, La. 

on November 22, 2020.

Many of us involved in this huge effort barely had enough time to take a break before we had to hit the road to see the irises blooming that we had planted.   Some of us started rescuing and planting wild irises during the first projects completed three years ago.  It was very satisfying not only seeing the irises that we planted this year bloom, but also seeing how the irises have multiplied that we planted in previous years.

Sadly, in a couple of locations the hurricanes that the area experienced in 2020 knocked back the irises that we planted.  They weren't knocked-out completely, but they are down for the count, for sure.  We have high hopes that they will recover if they can catch a break from having more storms come in this hurricane season.

We switched hats from laborers planting irises in the muck to social media public relations semi-professionals and started phase two of our program as soon as the irises started blooming.  Our PR campaign was very successful in letting the public know where the irises could be found blooming.  We also received a lot of help from the marketing professionals on the staffs of the refuges and towns where we had planted irises. 

We saw first-hand and received many reports from the field as the iris bloom was progressing that there were more people out at the swamp boardwalks than in previous years.  One interesting piece of information that came in was that there were many more families with children, teens or young adults going out to the boardwalks this year to see and experience Louisiana’s swamps with its wildlife and fauna.  We’d like to think our news-releases and social media postings about the safety of the boardwalks had something to do with that.  

Photo:  This picture was sent to us by a 

these children's mother as they explore the

US Fish & Wildlife Service's Bayou Teche 

National Wildlife refuge boardwalk. 

 

All of this made the hard work done by our volunteers over the last year very worthwhile and gratifying.  We ran across many of them out at the boardwalks enjoying the results of their labor.    

We are hopeful that our efforts helped raise awareness with the public of this important native plant and the threatened habitat they live in.  The Louisiana iris has a cultural and historical presence in our lives down here.  We believe its important that everyone can enjoy the show they put on in the wild each bloom season.  As we say, not everyone can get out and wade through the swamps while swatting away snakes and alligators to see this wonderful, rare native plant, so why not bring the irises to some of their habitat that is safe for the public to see them?

Anyway, for the rest of this posting I’m just going to let the pictures tell the story of the blooming I. giganticaerulea Louisiana irises at our projects during this past month.

Enjoy!

 

US Fish and Wildlife Service Big Branch 

National Wildlife Refuge's 

Boy Scout  Road boardwalk.   

Lacombe, La.

 

US Fish and Wildlife Service Big Branch 

National Wildlife Refuge's 

Boy Scout  Road boardwalk.   

Lacombe, La.

 

Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries' Joyce 

Wildlife Management Area boardwalk.

Ponchatoula, La.

 

 Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries' Joyce 

Wildlife Management Area boardwalk.

Ponchatoula, La.

(Photo by Henry Cancienne)

 

Northlake Nature Center boardwalk 

and trail.  Mandeville, La. 

 

   

  

Northlake Nature Center boardwalk 

and trail.  Mandeville, La.

 

 

US Fish & Wildlife Service Bayou 

Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge 

boardwalk.   New Orleans, La.

 

(Photo by  Paul Christiansen)

 

US Fish & Wildlife Service Bayou 

Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge 

boardwalk.  New Orleans, La.

 

(Photo by Henry Cancienne)

 

 

Cajun Coast Visitor's Center.

Morgan City, La.

 

(Photo by Henry Cancienne)

 

 

Cajun Coast Visitor's Center.

Morgan City, La.

 

(Photo by Henry Cancienne)

 

 

 

Town of Lockport, La Wetlands 

Boardwalk.  (Photo by Mike Glaspell) 

 

 

Town of Lockport, La Wetlands 

Boardwalk.  (Photo by Mike Glaspell)

 

 

Nature Conservancy's Griletta Tract trail 

and boardwalk in Grand Isle, La.   

(Photo by  Paul Christiansen)

 

Nature Conservancy's Griletta Tract trail 

and boardwalk in Grand Isle, La.   

(Photo by  Paul Christiansen)

 

Town of Jean Lafitte's Wetland's 

Trace boardwalk.

 (Photo by Henry Cancienne)

 

Town of Jean Lafitte's Wetland's 

Trace boardwalk.

 (Photo by Henry Cancienne)

 

US Fish & Wildlife Service Mandalay 

National Wildlife Refuge trail 

and boardwalk.   Houma, La.

 

US Fish & Wildlife Service Mandalay 

National Wildlife Refuge trail 

and boardwalk.   Houma, La.

 

 Fontainebleau State Park.   

Mandeville, La.

Fontainebleau State Park.   

Mandeville, La.

 

We are starting up our iris rescue projects for 2021 this month.  We welcome any size donation to help with the overhead expenses that we incur with maintaining our iris holding area and putting on volunteer events.  We are an all-volunteer run Louisiana registered non-profit that aims to have a big impact at a small cost.  

We have a new PayPal account that will allow you to make a donation to us even if you do not have a Paypal account.  A credit card will work.  Any help that you can give will be greatly appreciated.  If you would like to make a donation you can do so by clicking here:  Donation   Thank you so much!

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

Recent articles about our work can be found here: https://www.licisaveirises.com/news

Our Facebook page can be found here:  https://www.facebook.com/licisaveirises

Our email address is: licisaveirises@gmail.com

Irises and Dry Creek Garden

 By Jeff Bennett

In my last article on the history of Dry Creek Garden, we left off with the acquisition of the property as a cattle ranch and it being deeded to Bertha Meyers from her mother Sofia in 1900. The first of three children, Mildred Meyers was born in 1898. Edith Meyers was born in 1900 and Jeanette Meyers in 1905. The cottage at Dry Creek, designed by their father Henry, an Architects, was constructed as a summer retreat from the family home in Alameda, Ca. (near Oakland, California) in 1900. The three daughters would spend their summers here and enjoy the wilds of the rolling hills with a meandering creek through the Dry Creek property. Before they would make the approximately 20 mile trek to the property, a trunk of their needs was sent to the cottage for them for the summer. It must have been a magical place for them to visit the ranch as it was fairly isolated then. Dry Creek is tucked into the foot of a canyon, protected by a high berm of land that shelters the area from wind. The cottage is about 20 yards north of the creek and nestled into the oak studded hillside. The wrap around porch of this modest estate faces south and looking down towards the creek and beyond. Another 20 yards south of the creek, another hill rises to make the gentle canyon complete.

Henry Myers

The Meyers sisters all attended UC Berkeley. This was unusual at a time when many women did not get degrees in mainly male dominated fields. Mildred became an Architect like her father in 1921. Edith studied medicine and became a Pediatrician at Children’s Hospital in Oakland in 1926. Jeanette attended UC Berkeley and studied Botany. It was Jeanette who wanted to develop the gardens at the family retreat at Dry Creek. So in 1928, she and her architect sister, Mildred started the layout of the gardens.

The stone pillars in front were built in 1930 along with the masterfully built stone walls lining the creek to contain it. A vehicle bridge was also built across the creek on cement buttresses. Two more walking bridges were constructed to access the future planting beds on the other side of the creek. Over the next decade, many new native and exotic trees were planted including Incense Cedar, Red Oak (East Coast), Buckeye (Ohio Species), Flowering Cherries, Coast Redwoods and many varieties of fruit trees.

The California Nursery was also very close. This, I’m sure was their source of many of the species of plants in the garden. California Nursery Company was established in 1884. In the 1930’s, it would host bulb festivals that would see over 5,000 visitors in a weekend. They also sold plants wholesale and retail to the public. With it being so close, I am sure some iris were purchased there. Another connection the sisters may have had to iris was Jeanette’s botany classes at UC Berkeley in the late 1920’s to possibly early 30’s. With Sidney B. Mitchell being the University Librarian and Edward O. Essig being the chairman of the entomology department at UC Berkeley who in 1935 became an American Dyke’s Medal winner for Sierra Blue, and then there was also Carl Salbach in the Berkeley hills near the University. William Mohr also lived a few miles from Dry Creek. So as you can see, Jeanette had many opportunities to meet and get to know these early important hybridizers and introduce iris to the gardens at Dry Creek that still grow there today. So far I have identified, Alta California and California Blue as irises that have been here for at least 8 decades by my calculations.

By 1941, work on the garden had halted due to World War ll. The war effort shifted the focus away from garden improvements until the war was over in 1945. Their father Henry Haight Meyers passed away in 1943 at the age of 75. He was a very prominent San Francisco architect and designed over 200 buildings and was the County Architect for Alameda County from 1912 to 1930. Henry’s wife Bertha S. Meyers passed away in 1947 at 78 years of age.

After Bertha’s passing the three sisters started new improvements to the property at Dry Creek. This included a swimming pool and cabana built in 1947 and 1950 respectively. These were the last major improvements done to the property. For Mildred, the Architect, this was her most significant construction to her name that was built. Being a woman, it was much harder for her to be the lead architect on projects in the private or public sector. Mildred retired in the early 1950’s. By 1960, Edith, the Pediatrician, had also retired from Children’s Hospital in Oakland. At that time, she donated $50,000 to the Hospital that has a room that bears her name and legacy. In 1960, $50,000 was a very large sum of money. With homes selling for less than $5,000, it could have  made them some great tycoons. But that was not their style. They were a very generous trio of sisters that never married and lived together their entire lives. With the two oldest working their careers, Jeanette took care of the duties in the home in Alameda and at Dry Creek. Part of their philanthropy began in 1951. They were members of The Alameda Welfare Council and decided to have fundraisers at the garden to raise funds for the council by selling items. To quote the local newspaper; “Country store booths will have a generous display of home cooked foods, handmade gifts, country fresh vegetables, plants and shrubs. After luncheon, guests may linger in the gardens for bridge, tables to be placed beneath gay colored umbrellas or on the wide cool verandas. There will be swimming for those that wish to do so.” These events were for women only and the attendees would number from 415 to close to 700 during the 20 years it was held.

I’ll stop here so that the next issue will show some of the newspaper photos and the annual themes that went along with the annual party.