Second Annual Abbeville Red Iris Bloom Event Draws Nearly 300 Visitors

April 10, 2025 Abbeville, La.

The second annual Abbeville Red Iris Bloom Event at Palmetto Island State Park was hailed as a major success by park organizers, volunteers, and participating non-profits. Nearly 300 people attended the event on Saturday, April 5, 2025, despite forecasts predicting severe weather during the event time. Fortunately, the thunderstorms held off until that evening, allowing visitors to fully enjoy the celebration of this rare Louisiana iris.

The 2025 event received strong support from the local community.

Here's the backstory:

The Abbeville Red Iris Bloom Event was first held last year to celebrate Iris nelsonii, a Louisiana iris species native to Vermilion Parish and commonly known as the Abbeville Red iris.

This rare iris was first discovered in 1938 in the nearby Abbeville Swamp. In the years that followed, colonies of the iris were found downstream from the swamp, likely carried by seeds floating along the Vermilion River. Some of these colonies grew in swamps that are now part of Palmetto Island State Park.

Since the Abbeville Swamp is privately owned and secured, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries developed a plan in 2011 to purchase some of these rare irises from collectors and plant them within the boardwalk swamp of the newly created Palmetto Island State Park. This not only made the irises accessible for the public to enjoy each year when they bloomed but also provided an opportunity to educate visitors about this rare and threatened species.

Blue Louisiana iris hybrids growing among Abbeville Red irises in the park’s boardwalk swamp before the restoration project began.

The original iris planting along the boardwalk included several other species, which soon led to hybridization. Over the years, the Friends of Palmetto Island State Park worked to maintain the boardwalk swamp exclusively with Abbeville Red irises by removing other varieties, achieving only partial success. At the same time, bushes and the invasive tallow tree became established among the irises.

In early 2023, the Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) was invited by the park manager and the Friends group to lead a restoration of the boardwalk swamp and its irises. The Friends group continued their support by providing funding to accelerate the project, enabling LICI to expand its New Orleans iris nursery to grow Abbeville Red irises from seedlings and increase the number of plants available for restoration. Another major boost came when Abbeville Red iris enthusiast and grower Kent Benton joined the effort, donating both mature plants and seedlings.

Volunteers at the end of the park’s 2023 boardwalk swamp clearing event, where bushes, tree limbs, and tallow trees were removed.

Following multiple volunteer events to clear the boardwalk swamp of bushes, tree limbs, and invasive tallow trees, the stage was set to begin planting Abbeville Red irises in the winter of 2023, supplementing the irises that had survived over the years. This effort inspired the idea of a bloom event in the spring, inviting the public to see the improvements, celebrate the blooming irises, and learn more about this rare Louisiana iris species.

The notice for the 2024 combined stir the pot and Abbeville Red iris bloom event.

The first Abbeville Red Iris Bloom Event was held in April of 2024 in conjunction with the Friends’ Stir the Pot event, a wild game and seafood cook-off, and proved to be a big success. Of the total attendees, an estimated 250 came solely to see the irises.

During 2024 and early 2025, many more Abbeville Red irises were added to the park’s boardwalk swamp—hundreds donated by Kent Benton and nearly a thousand grown in LICI’s nursery from seeds collected in 2023 from the Abbeville Swamp.

Hundreds of Abbeville Red irises were expected to be in bloom by the time of the spring event when the date was set in early December of 2024. “Scheduling iris bloom events is always a challenge, since the timing of the bloom depends heavily on how warm or cold the winter is,” explains LICI’s Gary Salathe, one of the volunteers organizing the event with park staff. That challenge grew even greater when the area was hit by a record hard freeze in January 2025, with temperatures dropping into the single digits and the boardwalk swamp freezing over.

Back to the 2025 Abbeville Red Iris Bloom Event:

Scene from the SLI tour of the boardwalk on August 5th.

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) hosted an event at the park on Friday, April 5, 2025, for the Society for Louisiana Irises (SLI), the day before the Abbeville Red Iris Bloom Event. This gave bloom event organizers the chance to set up most of the displays a day early, while also providing SLI members with what was essentially a mini bloom event tailored for this national group of iris enthusiasts.

Although only about fifty irises were in bloom at the time—delayed by unusually cold January weather across south Louisiana—the day was still a success. A guest speaker’s presentation on the Abbeville Red iris during the lunch break in the park’s meeting room added depth to the program, and with more than fifty SLI members in attendance, the tour offered iris lovers from across the country a rare opportunity to experience Iris nelsonii in its natural habitat.

The bloom event was heavily marketed on social media.

Even better, more irises began blooming overnight and into the early morning, so by the official start of the Abbeville Red Iris Bloom Event at 11 a.m., the display had grown noticeably.

The bloom event enjoyed strong community participation, featuring educational booths on irises, birds, and Acadiana culture and history, with knowledgeable volunteers answering questions and giving demonstrations throughout the event:

The Abbeville Garden Club had a booth with information on the Abbeville Red iris, along with demonstrations on how to plant and care for Louisiana irises.

The Louisiana Bird Observatory , a Baton Rouge Audubon Society grassroots program focused on avian research, conservation, and education. They had a booth with information on birds that live within the park, descriptions of the work that they do, and their group’s volunteer opportunities. They actually set up a net, caught birds, banded them and released them as attendees of the event stood close by to watch.

Elaine Bourque did a demonstration on spinning heirloom Acadian brown cotton to use in weaving cloth for blankets and clothing. She discussed the history of brown cotton and the role it played in the culture of Acadiana.

The Abbeville Rotary Club was onsite with their portable kitchen cooking Jambalaya for the attendees of the bloom event.

At 1 p.m., Bayli Q. Brossette, Curator of Briarwood Nature Preserve at the Caroline Dormon Nature Preserve in Natchitoches Parish, gave a slide presentation titled “Caroline Dormon: Life in Conservation.”

Caroline Dormon was a trailblazer in forestry and conservation in the early 20th century, a time when few women were recognized in the field. From preserving Louisiana’s native irises to advocating for protection of the longleaf pine ecosystem, her legacy remains deeply rooted in the landscapes she fought to protect.

At 3 p.m., Gary Salathe, president and founder of the Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI), gave a presentation covering the five Louisiana iris species, the discovery of the Abbeville Red iris in 1938 just two miles from the park, and its recognition as a distinct species in 1964. He also reported on the current condition of the Abbeville Red iris’s native habitat in the Abbeville Swamp and explained how the park’s boardwalk swamp will play a role in restoring the species there.

Lafayette artist Claire Dawkins, shown at the event, donated two 8” x 10” prints of her native Louisiana iris paintings to the park and loaned her original Abbeville Red iris oil painting for display during the bloom event.

Experienced iris experts were stationed along the boardwalk to answer visitors’ questions.

In keeping with the iris bloom event as a celebration of Louisiana’s Acadiana culture, two groups performed acoustic Cajun music during the event, either on the deck or in the meeting room.

Students from the local Lache Pas classes performed from 12:30 to 1 p.m. This group of middle school students is learning all about Acadiana music, history, and culture. They played in the meeting room to a full house. You can learn more by clicking here.

The Babineaux Sisters performed from 1 to 3 p.m. in the courtyard area of the deck. The sisters have been active in the Acadiana music scene for several years, bringing their unique sound and style to Cajun music. Their performance provided the perfect musical backdrop for the event.

A photo contest was also held as part of the event. Participants could submit entries by mail in the weeks leading up to the event or in person on the day of the bloom.

In addition to the manned information booths, there were two unmanned displays:

• One from the Teche-Vermilion Fresh Water District, which explained the key role they play in providing water from the Atchafalaya river to the Bayou Teche and Vermilion River watersheds to maintain fresh water levels.

• Another showcasing amateur photographer Mike Glaspell’s photos of pollinators on blooming irises.

The park and event organizers were very pleased with the outcome and thank everyone who attended or volunteered, helping make it such a success.