Louisiana Children's Museum In NOLA's City Park Gets More Irises Planted

January 2, 2022 New Orleans, La.

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) planted more Louisiana irises in at the lagoon across from the Louisiana Children's Museum in New Orleans' City Park in their multi-year project there.

The irises were planted along the bank of the lagoon across from the museum.

LICI planted I. giganticaerulea species of the Louisiana iris today that came from their iris rescue program. This location is one of six where LICI is planting rescued irises as a place for them to multiply on their own without any maintenance being done by anyone. The irises will be available to them in the future to thin out as they multiply to use in LICI's other iris restoration projects. In the meantime, the blooming irises will be in view to the public, which furthers the goal of LICI and the museum to raise awareness of this native Louisiana plant.

A portion of a second lagoon shoreline is shown where the irises were planted on January 2nd.

One of the key sites that LICI has been rescuing irises over the last two years is permitted for commercial development and is for sale. The plan is to relocate some of these irises to locations where they can safely grow for years and still be available to LICI to thin out for future projects. "We appreciated the Louisiana Children's Museum director's offer of using the lagoon bank across the from the museum to plant the irises. Its a win/win deal, is the way we see it", says LICI's board of directors member Gary Salathe.

One of the irises planted last year just happen to be blooming on the day when the new irises were added. The area has experienced a warm period in December, causing some confusion with the irises since they typically bloom in late March and early April.

More Irises Added to Lockport, La. Boardwalk

December 24, 2021 Lockport, La.

LICI volunteers added more irises to their on-going multi-year iris restoration project at the town of Lockport, La.'s Elevated Wetlands Boardwalk yesterday, December 23, 2021. It was their last planting at the boardwalk for this iris planting season. It was the sixth time LICI volunteers have been out to the boardwalk planting irises since the project began in late 2020. The group worked hard and planted an estimated 375 irises.

The volunteers are shown beginning work planting irises at the town of Lockport's Elevated Wetlands Boardwalk on December 23rd.

The irises that were planted were the I. giganticaerulea species of the Louisiana iris that came from an iris rescue event held the week before.

Newly planted irises on December 23rd.

Its estimated that there may be as many as 1,400 irises that LICI volunteers have planted at the boardwalk over the last year, including the irises planted yesterday. Irises from the earliest plantings are multiplying and are doing great.

"We'd like to once again thank the landowner, Hugh Caffery, for granting us permission to plant the irises. We also like to thank Lafourche Parish Councilman, Armand Autin, and the Lafourche Parish government employees who assisted with the coordination of this project. All were excited to have the irises added to the boardwalk area and are encouraging us to continue the plantings, " LICI's Gary Salathe summed up.

Four of the five volunteers at the Lockport, La. iris planting on 12-23-20201 are shown in this photo; (Left to Right) Scott Schexnaydre, Mike Glaspell, Gary Salathe and Connie Adams. Henry Cancienne helped out by keeping the volunteers supplied with irises from the boardwalk.

LICI Helps to Cleanup Nature Conservancy's Grilletta Tract and Plants More Irises

December 17, 2021 Grand Isle, La.

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) participated in an event organized by the Nature Conservancy to help clean-up Hurricane Ida storm debris from their Grilletta Tract of the Lafitte Woods Preserve. In addition, LICI's volunteers planted another 400 Louisiana irises in the freshwater bog located on the property while they were there.

The Nature Conservancy's Grilletta Tract is part of their Lafitte Woods, which is 35 acres live oak tree groves on Grand Isle. The Lafitte Woods is the last remnant of the live oak tree groves that of what once covered the entire island.

The Nature Conservancy's Lafitte Woods is a critical habitat for birds to rest once they have migrated across the Gulf of Mexico in the spring or to rest before they start their return trip in the fall. It attracts bird watchers from around the country.

The Grilletta Tract is one parcel of land among others that make up the Lafitte Woods holdings of the Nature Conservancy in Grand Isle. It is the site of an on-going Louisiana iris restoration project started by the Grand Isle Garden Club that has been continued since 2020 by LICI.

LICI's volunteers begin work helping to cleanup Hurricane Ida storm debris at the iris bog of the Nature Conservancy's Grilletta Tract on December 17th. Many of the volunteers were residents of nearby Lafourche parish and had also received hurricane damage to their homes and properties.

Crews from other Nature Conservancy properties in south Louisiana were on-site with equipment to help clean up as LICI's volunteers worked in the bog area.

Photo: As The Nature Conservancy's crew used heavy equipment to clean off hurricane debris from the front section of the property a LICI volunteer is shown bringing some irises to the freshwater bog for planting.

Grand Isle is a barrier island on Louisiana's Gulf of Mexico coast. The Grilletta Tract is located near the center of the island. The rear of the property has frontage on the back bay of Grand Isle. The irises are planted in a bog at the center of the property where there is a short boardwalk. Hurricane Ida's storm surge put the irises growing in the freshwater bog completely underwater with full-strength Gulf of Mexico seawater.

The volunteers begin planting irises after they had removed the hurricane debris.

2020's Hurricane Zeta also flooded the bog with its saltwater storm surge. LICI's Gary Salathe says, "The only explanation we have for their survival is that the storm surge came in quickly and left just as quickly after the storm passed by. That was followed by the drainage from next door neighborhoods allowing rainwater to flow through the bog for the last two months flushing out the salt left in the soil."

The last of the Louisiana iris are shown being planted.

LICI has plans to come back at least one more time to plant an equal number of Louisiana irises in the Grilletta Tract's freshwater bog during January.