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.