LICI Moves its Iris Nursery to NOLA's City Park

February 18, 2026 New Orleans, La.

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) has announced the relocation of its iris nursery propagation program to New Orleans City Park, marking an important step forward in the organization’s long-term effort to conserve and restore Louisiana’s rare native irises—especially the endangered Abbeville Red iris (Iris nelsonii).

LICI has been using property owned by Common Ground Relief in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood of New Orleans since 2020 as an iris holding area. Irises rescued from sites where they were slated for destruction were temporarily planted here before being moved and replanted into protected restoration sites.

The move brings LICI’s seed propagation work into an area within the Greater New Orleans Iris Society’s (GNOIS) existing nursery, which is an extensive, well-established Louisiana iris nursery site within City Park. The move provides LICI with expanded infrastructure, improved growing conditions, and increased visibility for its conservation work among GNOIS members.

For the past couple of years, LICI has focused on collecting, germinating, and raising I. nelsonii Louisiana iris seeds sourced from wild populations in Vermilion Parish's Abbeville Swamp. This effort has produced thousands of seedlings used in restoration plantings at Palmetto Island State Park’s boardwalk swamp.

Workers from the Louisiana Conservation Corps are shown on moving day setting up the new Abbeville Red iris propagation nursery at the Greater New Orleans Iris Society (GNOIS) nursery in City Park.

By relocating its nursery operations to City Park, LICI gains access to a stable, managed environment where young plants can be carefully monitored and grown before being planted into the state park’s iris restoration project. The City Park location also allows collaboration with experienced iris growers and preservation specialists associated with the GNOIS iris nursery program, which has long supported conservation and species preservation work involving Louisiana irises.

A central focus of the relocated nursery is the continued expansion of the Abbeville Red iris (Iris nelsonii) propagation program. This species is one of the rarest native irises in North America, found naturally only in a small region of Vermilion Parish.

Volunteers are shown planting Abbeville Red iris seedlings at LICI’s new nursery location in February 2026. The seedlings were grown from seeds collected in the Abbeville Swamp the previous year.

LICI has been collecting Abbeville Red iris seed pods from wild populations for multiple seasons, carefully germinating and growing seedlings, with the help of other organizations, for future restoration plantings. The City Park nursery provides an ideal staging ground for these plants as they mature before being planted into Palmetto Island State Park, and from there, eventually reintroduced into the Abbeville Swamp. The increased capacity is expected to improve both the scale and reliability of LICI’s restoration pipeline, ensuring a steady supply of healthy plants for the project.

Abbeville Red irises are shown blooming in the Palmetto Island State Park's iris restoration project in 2025.

LICI leaders describe the move as both practical and strategic—providing better propagation conditions while also strengthening partnerships that support long-term restoration goals.

With continued collaboration and increased propagation capacity, LICI hopes the City Park nursery will serve as a cornerstone in the effort to ensure that the Abbeville Red iris remains part of Louisiana’s natural heritage for generations to come.