Corcoran Memorial
Iris Garden
The Rt. Rev. W. T. Corcoran Memorial Iris Garden, planted and maintained by Stratford and District Horticultural Society, is in pleasant parkland on McLagan Drive, a quiet street connecting St. Vincent and John Streets.
Although the garden is in fairly early stages of redevelopment, visitors enjoy many beautiful varieties of Iris, with early, mid-season and later varieties providing an extended sequence of blooms.
Photo: Anu Macintosh-Murray
The garden is named for Father William Tillman Corcoran (1889-1970) who served Stratford’s Immaculate Conception Church for many years. He was widely known as a hybridizer of gladiolus and iris, and active in The Horticultural Society.
Did You Know?
City of Stratford is an iris chosen by Father Corcoran, and is the city’s official civic bloom.
Photo: Anu Macintosh-Murray
British actress Audrey Hepburn said, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow,” which Stratford and District Horticultural Society has adopted as it motto.
Garden Stratford celebrated its 140th anniversary in 2018 with Believe in Tomorrow as its
celebratory iris.
Photo: Mike Matthews
Early and mid-summer is the best time to enjoy these and many other beautiful irises, but the Father Corcoran Garden is developing as a place to visit after iris season to see attractive plantings of ornamental grasses and sedum.
Photos: Joan Daynard