Louisiana Irises are increasingly recognized as native plants well adapted to garden culture. They also make fine water garden or rain garden plants and love aquatic or bog conditions. While sometimes referred to as water irises, their only real requirement is to stay damp and not dry out.
Louisiana iris cultivars grow well across the country and the color range is the widest of all the iris groups. Hybrids are derived from five North American species: I. brevicaulis, I. giganticaerulea, I. fulva, I. nelsonii, and I. hexagona. Fulva and brevicaulis occur naturally as far up the Mississippi Valley as the Great Lakes, which largely accounts for the cold hardiness of hybrid cultivars.
What Is Zydeco Louisiana Iris Garden?
Until 2013, Zydeco was a commercial Louisiana iris nursery selling plants online. Today, it is a cooperative effort between the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Greater New Orleans Iris Society. City Park in New Orleans provides growing space for the Garden. Its purpose is to preserve, propagate and promote Louisiana irises and to make plants available to parks and other entities that will display them for public enjoyment and education. Special emphasis will be placed upon conserving both the various forms of the five species and old, historically important cultivars that can still be obtained.
What You'll Find On This Site
This site is designed as a hub for resources on Louisiana irises. It offers a wide range of information, pictures, recommendations and links on "Louisianas," as these irises are called. Take a look.