History of Iris Conservation in the New Orleans Area

March 24, 2022 New Orleans, La

Click here to see the articles:

Bayou and Marsh, exerpt February 2016.hires.pdf

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Enjoy!

Not many people know that the name Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative is derived from the first Louisiana iris society created in the early 1930's. It was named the Louisiana Iris Conservation Society.

The articles in the link at the top of this page are from the February 2017 Bayou and Marsh newsletter of the Greater New Orleans Iris Society. LICI got in touch with the editor and author of the articles, Patrick O'Connor, and he was good enough to not only give us permission to re-post it, but he also extracted the key articles from the newsletter so we wouldn't have to re-post the entire issue.

Not many people realize just how big of a deal Louisiana irises have been to the culture of south Louisiana. These articles help to show just how big of a deal it was.

LICI Completes First Iris Rescue for the 2022 Season

March 18, 2022 New Orleans, La.

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) completed their first iris rescue for the 2022 season on March 16, 2022. A group of Iowa State University college student volunteers and volunteers from Common Ground Relief rescued I. giganticaerulea species of the Louisiana iris in this LICI's organized event.

The college students were in New Orleans for a week of service activities. Common Ground Relief hosted the group at their headquarters and organized activities for them this past week. Other local volunteers from Common Ground Relief helped out in the iris rescue.

Photo: The volunteers head out into the field to begin digging irises on LICI's March 16th iris rescue event.

The group rescued approximately 2,100 I. giganticaerulea species of the Louisiana iris that were growing on a property located west of New Orleans. The property is zoned for commercial development and is for sale. The owner is encouraging LICI to get the irises relocated.

Photo: Work starts digging the irises.

Photo: Common Ground Relief's, co-executive directors Charlotte Clark and Josh Benitez, worked to pick weeds from the clumps as the irises were brought to the trailer.

A group photos of the volunteers that got LICI's 2022-2023 iris rescue and planting season kicked off on March 16th.

The Iowa State University college student volunteers went to the LICI iris holding area to plant the rescued iris into containers on Friday, March 18th. All went well and the irises they helped rescue are all now safely planted into containers. The irises will grow and strengthen up there until they are planted out in LICI's projects this coming fall and winter.

Photo: Iowa State University college student volunteers planting the irises they helped rescue into containers at the LICI iris holding area in New Orleans on Friday, March 18th. This was their last work activity before they were to leave to head back home the next day.

LICI Releases 2022 Map of Louisiana Iris Viewing Locations

****** January 24, 2023 UPDATE: The Louisiana Iris Viewing Locations map has received 29,650 views since its release!! ********

March 16, 2022 New Orleans

The 2022 Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative's (LICI) interactive map for Louisiana Iris Viewing Locations has been released. You can click on this link to find the map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer...

The map is created each year by LICI to let the public know where there are places to safely see Louisiana irises in bloom. Many of the locations on the map are on-going LICI iris restoration projects.

You can click on the icon for each location on the map and it will take you to that location's page. Once you are on each page, you can click on the photo to see ten photos of each site.

There have been a few reports of the first blooms at some of the boardwalks, but the peak bloom will not likely be taking place until the end of March and the first three weeks of April.

LICI will be putting up Facebook postings as the irises at each location begin to bloom, including an estimate of when the peak bloom should take place. They suggest that you bookmark the LICI Facebook page and check it once a week over the next six weeks instead of relying on our postings showing up on your Facebook newsfeed. (Facebook sends out each of their postings to only 150 - 200 of their 1,800 page followers at a time, so you can't rely on all of their postings showing up on your newsfeed.)

LICI has plans to have an information table/booth for a few hours at some of these locations during the peak bloom. These will also be posted onto their Facebook page. This will be a great way for you to learn about LICI and meet some of their volunteers.