英国 西辛赫斯特鸢尾苗圃 Iris of Sissinghurst – 220 余鸢尾品种单一品类苗圃

关于西辛赫斯特鸢尾苗圃

西辛赫斯特鸢尾苗圃（Iris of Sissinghurst）在英格兰东南部的肯特郡，是一家只做鸢尾的苗圃。老板 Sue Marshall 一个人打理，店里的口号直接写着「WE GROW IRISES – ONLY IRISES」——种鸢尾，只种鸢尾。这个牌子最早的苗圃在 Sissinghurst，后来搬到 Marden 那边，挪出去几英里，那块地原本就是用来备展的。

苗圃的目标是尽量把鸢尾的种类凑齐，每年再添一批新种。专卖这点在英国的园艺苗圃里不常见，一般苗圃什么都卖，这里从目录到展台全是鸢尾。

苗圃 1999 年由 Margaret Roberts 创办，Sue Marshall 当时上完 RHS 的函授课程、搬到肯特之后去帮忙，后来 Margaret 退休，她接手过来，自己也没想过会开苗圃。Sue 本人也是育种人，经她登记推出的品种包括中型的 ‘Dutch Delight’ 和几个矮生有须的品种。

卖什么品种

站上的商店按类别分，品种数量是可以数出来的。高型有须鸢尾（Tall Bearded）一百一十七个，是最大的一类，花期五月下旬到六月下旬；短须和有须（Short & Intermediate）六十六个；肯特本地育种的鸢尾（Kent Irises）二十五个，是苗圃的特色线，这些品种全在本地育种自繁，只此一家。往细分还有 Siberian 和冬季开花的一类、西伯利亚鸢尾、喜湿的一类、水菖蒲属、Ensata 也就是日本鸢尾、路易斯安那鸢尾、可重复开花的（Reblooming）、历史品种和原种几个门类。

有须鸢尾的种植要求站上写得很直白：喜欢向阳位置，土要偏干到正常偏干，春天和花谢之后各施一次肥，扎根前保持水分。花期一栏用 E、M、L 三个字母标注早、中、晚，方便对着自己的花期安排。价格从六镑半到十五镑不等，也有按品种打包的组合。

发货上有个硬规矩：鸢尾在开花期间不发货，因为植株带着花上路容易损坏。除开花期外多数时间都可以寄，也可以寄送带贺卡和留言的礼物苗，不额外收费。碰上英国那种高温干旱的夏天发货会延后，2026 年的通知就是这么写的，说要等到九月十四日起才按订单先后恢复发货。

怎么买到

渠道有三条。最直接的是站上下单，可以直接买也可以寄订单表走邮购，站上常年挂着 Mail Order 表单。实物要看到花才好挑，所以苗圃每年安排若干个周末开放售卖，日期是按主要品种开花期排的，看中了可以直接从原来那个盆里买走，不起苗也不换盆，植株状态看得见摸得着。场地上其他时间只接受预约提取。苗圃也参加展览，近年去过 Harrogate、Cardiff 和 RHS Westminster Halls，以及肯特和英格兰东南部的地方展。

还有一条不常见的路子：苗圃全年给园艺协会和地方团体讲鸢尾的课。课程分几个主题——《English Love Affair with Iris》讲 Sue Marshall 跟鸢尾的来历和各类群，《A Year in the Life of a Nursery》逐月讲苗圃一年到头在干什么，《Pain and Pleasure of Growing for Chelsea》是面向非园艺团体的轻松版，讲切尔西花展背后的故事，《Bearded Iris》和《Non-Bearded Iris》则分别专门讲有须和无须两大类。讲完还能现场卖苗，课程信息挂在 RHS 讲者名录和肯特园艺协会联合会的名录上。

切尔西花展上的合作

苗圃跟法国的 Cayeux 合作，这家是全世界最大的鸢尾种植商之一，现在是第四代 Richard Cayeux 接手，苗圃在卢瓦尔河谷 Sancerre 附近。两家一起在 RHS 切尔西花展做展示，连续几年拿到镀银和银奖，Richard 和 Sue 拿过三块金奖。这块展台上的鸢尾其实是西辛赫斯特这边种的——Cayeux 每年八月把六百株苗寄过来，Sue 负责养护到花展。2015 年那届花展要用的有须鸢尾，也是在这里种的。

有一年 Cayeux 的展位做的是怀旧主题，用的是 1924 年卖给莫奈吉维尼庄园的那批老品种，包括 Ma Mie、Peau Rouge 和 White Queen。Richard Cayeux 的曾祖父 Victor Cayeux 当年就是供货方。除了花展，苗圃的鸢尾还上过 BBC 的《Gardeners’ World》和 Alan Titchmarsh 的节目。

养护与全年花期

苗圃还整理了一份按月排的鸢尾养护表，答的是新手问得最多的那些问题。一二月是冬花期，Iris lazica 和 ungulicularis 开花，球根开始冒芽要浇水；三月是给有须鸢尾清叶子的时间，要顺手检查根茎有没有腐烂，烂的地方切到干净的断面再用很淡的漂白水擦一遍，可能还得撒蜗牛药。四月短须鸢尾状态最好，该去残花就摘掉，西伯利亚鸢尾和 Spuria 这时候刚起苗，施一次薄肥。五月有须的中高型开，中高型之后是高型，要留意叶斑病，湿天容易发，叶子上有褐斑就是征兆，可以喷杀菌剂并把病叶摘掉。

这份表最有用的地方是告诉你每个月谁在开，所以想要全年不断花，按表挑品种就行，不用一次买齐。

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About Iris of Sissinghurst

Iris of Sissinghurst is an iris nursery in Kent that grows and sells nothing else, and says so on its own signage: “We grow irises — only irises”. The nursery is run by Sue Marshall. It began at Sissinghurst and later moved a few miles away to Marden, on land that had previously been used to prepare plants for shows. The aim is to offer as wide a range of iris as possible, with new varieties added each year.

The nursery was started by Margaret Roberts in 1999. Sue Marshall, having taken an RHS correspondence course and moved to Kent, began helping her, and took over when Margaret retired — neither she nor her husband Harry had expected to run a nursery. Sue breeds in her own right: cultivars registered to her include the intermediate ‘Dutch Delight’ and several standard dwarf bearded introductions.

What They Sell

The online shop is organised by category, and the counts are checkable: 117 Tall Bearded irises, the largest group and in flower from late May to late June; 66 Short and Intermediate bearded; and 25 Kent Irises — varieties bred in Kent, all raised on the nursery and available nowhere else. Finer categories cover Siberian and winter-flowering types, moisture-loving iris, Pseudacorus, Ensata, Louisiana, rebloomers, historic varieties and species.

Growing notes are plain: bearded irises want a sunny position and soil on the dry side, feeding in spring and again after flowering, with water until established. Flowering dates carry an E, M or L for early, mid and late. Prices run from about six pounds fifty to fifteen. One firm rule governs dispatch: plants are not sent while in flower.

How to Buy

There are three routes. You can order direct on the website or use the mail order form. Because irises are worth judging in bloom, the nursery opens on a number of weekends each year, timed so that a major group is flowering; visitors see the plant and the flower and buy it in the pot it has been growing in. Outside those dates collection is by appointment. The nursery also exhibits, having attended Harrogate, Cardiff and the RHS Westminster Halls in recent years, along with local shows across Kent and the south east.

The nursery also gives talks to horticultural and other local societies throughout the year, bookable by phone. Titles include English Love Affair with Iris, a month-by-month A Year in the Life of a Nursery, a lighter Pain and Pleasure of Growing for Chelsea aimed at non-horticultural groups, and specialist sessions on bearded and on non-bearded iris. Plants can be sold at the talk, and the list appears on the RHS speakers list and with the Kent Federation of Horticultural Societies.

The Chelsea Collaboration

Iris of Sissinghurst works with the French company Cayeux, one of the biggest iris growers in the world, to present a display at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Cayeux is now in its fourth generation under Richard Cayeux, based near Sancerre in the Loire valley. The collaboration has brought silver gilt and silver medals over several years, along with three gold medals. The plants on that stand are grown at Sissinghurst: Cayeux sends six hundred plants over in August and Sue carries them through to flowering, and the bearded irises forming the 2015 display were raised there too.

One year the Cayeux stand was built as a historical display around the varieties sold to Monet for his Giverny garden in 1924 — Ma Mie, Peau Rouge and White Queen among them, supplied back then by Victor Cayeux. The irises have also appeared on BBC Gardeners’ World and on Alan Titchmarsh’s programmes.

Care and the Flowering Year

The site carries a month-by-month care sheet answering the questions newcomers ask most. December and January bring winter flowering types such as Iris lazica and ungulicularis, with bulbs starting to show in pots. March is for clearing dead leaves off bearded irises and checking rhizomes for rot, cutting back to clean tissue and wiping the surface with very dilute bleach. April is when short bearded irises look their best and Siberian and Spuria types start into growth. May brings the intermediates, then the tall bearded, and with the wet weather comes leaf spot to watch for.

The sheet’s real value is showing which group is open when, which is how you buy for flowers across a whole year rather than all in one go.