Why not make the most of our magical irises and join us for our popular Iris Week? Iris Week at Doddington takes place Sunday 23 May to Bank Holiday Monday 31 May inclusive.
Every day that week the Gardens will be open from 11am to 5pm (last entry 4.30pm) so you can enjoy the irises that are so lovely they were featured by BBC Gardeners’ World. With the irises in the West Garden will be our gardeners and volunteer gardeners who will be happy to chat you about the Doddington irises.
Iris Week at Doddington Hall 23 – 31 May 2010 inclusive. Gardens open daily. House also open Sunday, Bank Holiday Monday and Wednesday. Admission applies. Farm Shop & Café open for morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea. For more information please call 01522 694 308 (Hall & Gardens) or 01522 688 581 (Farm Shop & Café).
More about the irises at Doddington: By late May the irises in Doddington Hall’s walled West Garden are at their peak giving a stunning display. Aside from looking exceptionally pretty, the irises are fascinating as they have been nurtured with a rather unconventional but undoubtedly successful cultivation method.
For over 25 years, the family’s dedicated and caring cultivation of bearded irises has provided a big attraction within our magical seven-acres of romantic walled and wild gardens.
Antony Jarvis, father of the current owner Claire Birch, has developed a unique way of cultivating the Irises and they certainly seem to like it. The irises are planted in blocks of colour in the box-edged parterres of the West Garden, which they prefer to being shaded deep in a mixed border because the rhizomes can have a delicious ‘bake’ in late summer. It was Antony Jarvis who, with his late wife Victoria, was responsible for starting the Hall’s love affair with the iris.
All thinning is done immediately after flowering, which goes against the conventional wisdom of waiting until late summer or early autumn. Antony describes his thinning technique to “chopping them up like a hot cross bun.” He divides each plant into three or four, removes three to replant and leaves just one segment in the ground undisturbed. The idea is to get the disturbance and relocation over before flower initiation, which happens in the early autumn.
Clearly the technique works, as there has been a constant display for over 25 years drawing visitors back time and time again to share this delicate but powerful sight. The effect is stunning. The box-edged parterres look like tapestries with a weave of gently coloured irises while the herbaceous borders have philadelphus for structure, Telekia Speciosa for height and plenty of peonies, alliums and phlox - the latter being a family favourite. There’s also a stunning handkerchief tree and a beautiful white wisteria sinesis.
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