Springing Up!

Louisiana Irises love the entire Gulf Coast, not just Louisiana. This year during the height of bloom season, the Houston Seminar will head out of Houston on a day trip to visit two stunning displays of irises.

We will travel by bus to Mercer Botanic Garden, where Christie Jones, Director of Education at Mercer, will give us a history of the Louisiana Irises and other plants at Mercer, and we will stroll around the grounds.  After lunch at Mercer, we will continue on the bus to a private Louisiana Iris nursery and learn a little about hybrids and natives, courtesy of irisarian Carol Price, co-owner of Standards & Falls Iris. 

Mercer Botanic Garden dates from the 1940s when Thelma and Charles Mercer preserved native trees such as dogwoods, Cabbage Palmettos, Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum, and hawthorns, and introduced camellias and exotic tree species such as ginkgos, bauhinias, and camphors. In 1974, the property was preserved as a Harris County park. Today Mercer maintains several specific gardens as well as a conservation nursery and a seed bank for the Center for Plant Conservation. The park is a study in resilience after its recovery from the 2016 Tax Day Flood and Hurricane Harvey which submerged the gardens under 10-12 feet of floodwater from Cypress Creek in August 2017.

Standards & Falls Iris was established in 2022 by Louise Jamail, Melinda Nickens and Carol Shanks Price. The founders grew Louisiana Irises as a hobby for decades before purchasing a soon-to-be shuttered nursery based near New Orleans and relocating it to Texas.

Like any good gardener, please remember to wear sturdy shoes, a sun hat, and sunscreen.