Sue Whigham explores the magnetic attraction of majestic irises

Whilst we all have regrets, my current one is not having made the effort to go to RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year. And whilst there’s good coverage on the TV, it’s not quite the same, is it. If I was only able to see one garden it would have been Sarah Price’s wonderful evocation of Sir Cedric Morris’s (1889-1982) house and garden, Benton End, in Hadleigh, Suffolk. This is where he and his partner, Arthur Lett-Haines, ran an art school, a ‘bohemian establishment’ for fellow artists and where he developed his fine gardening skills in the naturalistic style. Over the years, Benton End’s house and garden has been sorely neglected but – and this is very good news – it is now in the process of restoration which is being undertaken by the Garden Museum and the Pinchbeck Charitable Trust.
This story of Sir Cedric and his development of over ninety bearded irises in colours ‘that are hard to describe’ is the story too of two Sarahs.
Many of you will have seen Sarah Price’s show garden at Chelsea. The creation of straw cob walls in her garden was designed to echo the building materials of a sixteenth century Suffolk house. And on being interviewed at the Show, she spoke of the re-creation of the garden at Benton End and said that you could see and feel that it had received so much love. When asked about the Benton irises she used in the garden she said her biggest worry was whether they would open on cue. This they did and she describes the pearlescent sheen of the petals as being ‘absolutely extraordinary’. The subtle colour palette of the Benton irises are very reminiscent of the colours Morris used in some of his many flower paintings, an example of which is ‘The Eggs’ which hangs in the Tate Gallery.
And then there is Sarah Cook, who worked at Sissinghurst as Head Gardener on two different occasions and who took over from the legendary joint Head Gardeners, Pamela Schwerdt and Sibylle Kreutzberger. She describes her first season there when she made it her mission to find out all the names of the plants in the garden. She felt extraordinarily nervous until she recognised I. ‘Benton Nigel’ in one of the borders and felt she had come home. Sarah was born and bred in Hadleigh and remembered Benton End from her childhood when her mother ran Red Cross fêtes in the garden and her grandmother knew Sir Cedric.
She has a deep relationship with Benton End, its garden and its history and in particular the irises, and she sees Sir Cedric Morris as a forerunner of the naturalistic planters with his collection of rare plants, many of them brought back from his winter sojourns abroad. She now has a National Collection of Sir Cedric Morris irises at her home in Shelley four miles away from Hadleigh and is continually seeking out and collecting more of the cultivars.
Beth Chatto, friend and protegée, introduced Nigel Scott to Sir Cedric in 1952. He was a poet and a very keen gardener and had been on minesweepers in the Mediterranean during the war. Every so often he managed to get dropped off on strategic shores in order to walk in the Southern Alps where he gained considerable knowledge of species plants growing in their native habitat. Nigel moved into Benton End, joining an extended household, soon after they met and the two men apparently gardened together ‘from dawn to dusk’. The iris named after Nigel was named in 1956 and is described as having ‘violet standards and inky purple falls’. This was very much the heyday of the garden and it was Nigel Scott who persuaded Sir Cedric to plant in drifts rather than straight lines.
Cedric Morris had a great affinity with animals and there was a considerable menagerie at Benton End. Some of his irises were named after them; in particular, Iris ‘Benton Menace’ named after a troublesome tom cat, Menace, who fathered a plethora of kittens and then there was Iris ‘Benton Baggage’ named after a particularly fecund female cat.
One of the favourite irises on the Chelsea garden was I. ‘Benton Olive’ named after Morris’s friend and plantswoman, Olive Murrell. She and her husband set up Orpington Nursery in Kent and grew irises in their thousands. She bred a prize winning iris called I. ‘White City’ which became one of the parents of many of the Benton End irises. Iris ‘Benton Olive’ combines creamy olive, purple veining and a lilac splash on the falls, which we will get to in a minute. Sarah Price thought it her favourite but depending on the light and the time of day other irises caught her eye.
After Sir Cedric’s death in 1982 many iris seedlings were found in the kitchen garden. They were retrieved by the British Iris Society. They all flowered and one in particular – a pale lilac with dove markings and shaded in pale brown – was named by the Society, I. ‘Benton Farewell’.

Growing Irises
Irises are a rhizomatous perennial flowering in late May onwards. Many of them are fragrant and they all are made up of three upward petals (the standards) and then the downward petals (known as the falls). These six petals then have a fuzzy ‘beard’ at the base of the falls often in contrasting colours. And whilst they do not have a particularly long flowering season, they are completely fabulous both in bud and then in flower.
There are various different forms of bearded iris depending on height and they are the most flamboyant – the Benton irises are known as tall bearded.

So what do they need to give a good display?
Firstly, they need a moist but really well drained soil in FULL sun. They’d grow well in a gravel garden alongside euphorbia and white valerian. Once you’ve bought your plant, cut the leaves back to about six inches and make a mound. Place the rhizome (root) on the surface and spread the roots around the mound. I can just imagine them looking a little like an octopus at this stage. Trim the roots so that once you have planted the iris, no strands of root are showing above the ground for the birds to investigate.
Whilst I have said a ‘moist’ soil, you want to remember not to plant in heavy clay, so add horticultural grit or sand to improve your soil. Or perhaps grow in a raised bed. They don’t work well in containers as they have a
large root system. The important thing is that the rhizome is constantly exposed to the sun so that the following year’s flowers can form.
It’s quite difficult to incorporate irises into a mixed border as you don’t want the rhizome to get covered by another plant’s foliage. One tip I read was to plant more than one rhizome at a time with the leaves on the outer edge to form a triangle and to provide a barrier to other plants. Once you have got them in, don’t bother watering them. September is a good month as the soil is still warm.
Irises usually need to be split every three years or so and then not be planted in the same area. Once you lift them, split the rhizomes, throw away the old central rhizome and then replant with the young rhizomes facing the sun and the leaves shortened.
The kiss of death with irises is to mulch them, but you can keep them healthy using a fungicide if they appear to be developing brown spot as the season progresses. Sarah Cook recommends a general fertilizer containing added magnesium for a really healthy plant. Rose food is good for this.
Oh, and don’t forget to cut the spent flower and stalk back to the base when they are over. This will prevent the flower expending energy and producing seed.

large root system. The important thing is that the rhizome is constantly exposed to the sun so that the following year’s flowers can form.
It’s quite difficult to incorporate irises into a mixed border as you don’t want the rhizome to get covered by another plant’s foliage. One tip I read was to plant more than one rhizome at a time with the leaves on the outer edge to form a triangle and to provide a barrier to other plants. Once you have got them in, don’t bother watering them. September is a good month as the soil is still warm.
Irises usually need to be split every three years or so and then not be planted in the same area. Once you lift them, split the rhizomes, throw away the old central rhizome and then replant with the young rhizomes facing the sun and the leaves shortened.
The kiss of death with irises is to mulch them, but you can keep them healthy using a fungicide if they appear to be developing brown spot as the season progresses. Sarah Cook recommends a general fertilizer containing added magnesium for a really healthy plant. Rose food is good for this.
Oh, and don’t forget to cut the spent flower and stalk back to the base when they are over. This will prevent the flower expending energy and producing seed.

All about Irises
Iris of Sissinghurst, Roughlands Farm, Goudhurst Road, Marden, Kent TN12 9NH
Sue Marshall 01622 831511 irisofsissinghurst.com

Hullwood Barn, Shelley, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP7 5RE
Sarah Cook sarahmalmaisons@gmail.com

Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens, Elmstead Market, Elmstead, Colchester CO7 7DB
01206 822007 bethchatto.co.uk

Claire Austin Hardy Plants, Powys
Claire sells plants from her nursery at a pub called
The Sarn, Sarn, Newton, Powys, SY16 4EJ
Check her website for opening hours.
claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk

Sue Whigham can be contacted on 07810 457948 for gardening advice and help in the sourcing and supply of interesting garden plants.

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