One look at the ground at Woottens of Wenhaston‘s nursery fields—a two-acre site close to England’s Suffolk coast devoted to nurturing the elegant, timeless bearded iris—tells you all you need to know about the growing preferences of this ancient flower; poor soil and sun-baked conditions.
Photography by Clare Coulson for Gardenista.
This year, despite a wet winter that rotted many of the rhizomes and a week of gales and gusty winds that knocked over many of the surviving flowers, the fields are still a sight to behold with thousands of richly colored fluttering flowers.
The late Michael Loftus opened the nursery in 1990, first covering the land surrounding his cottage with beds and poly-tunnels, and eventually buying up surrounding land too.
Iris ‘Monet’s Blue’ grows in a field at Woottens. Woottens iris grower Gillian Morris tells us how to grow this fleeting beauty: each bearded iris has three standards (the top petals), three falls (the lower petals), and beards (the often decorative hairs at the throat of the falls).
Deep purple, Iris ‘Stellar Lights’ has a patch of white at the center of the falls; £5.50 at Woottens.
They may love the sun but in a dry spring the plants will still need a good watering ahead of their flowering period and a fertilizer like bonemeal added too.
If you garden on clay it’s still possible to grow some cultivars like the ever popular pale blue Iris Jane Phillips but you will need to improve the soil with grit.
Iris ‘Francheville’ is £7.50 at Woottens. Irises can be divided after blooming in July and August, and as each section of the rhizome will flower only once, it’s crucial to carry out this routine maintenance every three to four years.
Iris ‘Benton Farewell’ (currently out of stock) is £10 from Woottens. Their subtle color variations from olive to caramel and their delicacy – not to mention rarity – have only increased their popularity.
After 25 years on the same site, later this summer the nursery will relocate to the iris fields to focus on plant growing and mail order sales.