As might be expected, those iris species are well adapted to moist soils.
Unlike the more common "Bearded" iris which puke when planted in damp spots, they can even grow in standing water.
The Fleur-de-lis is a highly stylized graphic of the common iris. It is also the symbol associated with the New Orleans Saints football team.
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| Baton Rouge 'Passalong', one of the accidental hybrids |
The five species occasionally hybridized by accident. Sharp-eyed gardeners noticed them and shared them with friends and family. Then they started intentionally creating hybrids and they were off to the races.
Huge surprise, the cluster of hybrids known as "Louisiana irises" can grow as far north as Rochester, Minnesota. Who knew?
I have a sump-pump that keeps the basement dry. I currently have spearmint growing at the outlet. If my choices are daylilies (not native to North America), Siberian Iris (ditto) or Louisiana Iris...then I will choose the Louisiana Iris.
I am unsure regarding the best time to shop for these, but maybe one of the readers will chime in.
Yellow Creole Corn
One of the alternatives to hay to keep cattle alive through the winter is to plant corn and leave it standing into the winter. Then, to cut about 40 stems for every adult animal when the snow is too deep for them to forage.
One of the most suitable cultivars for this is Yellow Creole corn which has twice as many leaves as a typical mid-Western corn variety. More leaves means more protein.
Yellow Creole is a "flint" corn that was much preferred by less affluent people from South Carolina to coastal Texas.
By 1975 it was virtually extinct, wiped out by commercial hybrids. It was kept alive only by a few stubborn gardeners who valued the flavor and history of the variety.
The variety seems to be slowly clawing its way back from the brink of extinction, courtesy of the Slow Food movement and a few (very few) growers who offer seeds to the general public.
There are some HUGE orchids growing down in the swamps in south Louisiana!
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