L'Acadie Inn & RV Park's Fan Box

Friday, April 07, 2006

Louisiana Irises in Memory

I would like share something unique, created here at L'Acadie Inn. Our good friend, Tyrone Foreman of Foreman Flats in New Orleans, planted a beautiful bed of Louisiana Native Irises last fall in memory of the evacuees who stayed with us at L'Acadie Inn. These people lost practically everything and still maintained hope and positive attitudes. Each iris was named for a person or family (and in one case a beloved family dog who passed away during the evacuation) whose lives were flipped upside down by an uncontrollable event of nature. These irises are beginning to bloom, and are just gorgeous. I will continue to post more as they bloom. Many of the Giganticaruleas and Brevicaulises have not bloomed yet.
This first picture is a Fulva named Miss Lacy Burns, who was the 16 year old loyal pet of Mike and Rhonda Burns, of St. Bernard Parish. She passed away while the family was evacuated. It is a beautiful shade of light copper.

This next picture is of a Fulva as well, but this one is a Wood's Red. It is named for Mike and Renee Helmers of Slidell. They just finished building their new house when Katrina hit. As she put it they "only" got a foot and a half of water in their house.
Unfortunately, it still had to be gutted. Notice the deep shade of
copper on this iris.

This is a Giganticarulea. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing too strongly to get a really good image of this iris. It is named for Ms. Grace Puccio. She is in her nineties and evacuated during Katrina with her family from St. Bernard Parish.

This iris on the right is a Nelsonii. It is slightly past full bloom, but still beautiful. The Nelsonii closely resembles the Fulva Wood's Red above, but notice the yellow signal (stripe) running down the center of the petal.

I hope you've enjoyed our small example of Louisiana Native Irises. Recovery from the hurricanes continue, slowly but surely. People are beginning to return to semi-normalcy. Be sure to check back for images of the Brevicaulis and Giganticarulea. Also, the Cajun Prairie Habitat Preservation Society, is hosting its annual wildflower tour in Eunice on May 13, 2006.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the irises; I have your weblog linked to mine, by the way!

Anonymous said...

I have to go on as 'anonymous' due to vagaries in computers, but I'm Kathryns sister, LizEllen. Kat should add her picture of the amaryllis I brought down one Christmas. I think It wasteful to force bulbs then toss them. Mom was big on "Easter Lily's' which are currently on sale up here. Problem is if you plant 90% won't regrow. But nearly every year Mom would buy the pot and we'd check to see if it was going to ACUTUALLY GOING TO BLOOM ON EASTER! Well it rarely did, either due to the chills of the kitchen, too much or too little water, or Mom's hospitalizations which tended to doom it. And every year my Dad would mutter as he dumped a pitiful pot.
So as I passed a greenhouse and the Christmas Eve wastage blooms were advertised I thought...Hmm it should grow in Loiusiana.
Now my sister however should not be allowed to guard living plants so it was with trepadation I presented a pot of dirt promising it somehow contained a georgous bloom. It got planted and lo it bloomed and now has a happy home next to light up flamingos!