Bursting With Life

It feels as though the plants in the Genus garden are synchronised with the Greenwich Clock.  No sooner had we adjusted our clocks for British Summer Time than the garden appeared to come alive - everything bursting with life and growing apace.  Leaf buds on the horse chestnut are fat, fecund, and expanding daily.  The wallfowers, not so long ago just sad single stems, are bushing out, branching, and forming buds.  Flowers have seemingly appeared overnight - Aubrietia, wild Viola, Doronicum, tulips, Anemone, king cups, cowslips, Pulmonaria, and snakeshead frittilaries - all spreading their joy throughout the garden.

With the rapid acceleration of growth we’ve started the process of staking some of the more vulnerable plants.  Peonies are always the first to require this attention but within weeks most of the perennials will need some supports in place.  Though visible for a few weeks, the structures will very soon be swamped in a cascade of fresh emerald foliage.

There are some plants that have bucked the trend and are still not looking their best.  In particular our large Choisya, one of the first things you see as you come into the garden, was looking very sad, a result of the harsh winter.  We took the decision to cut the whole plant to the ground and hopefully promote fresh new basal growth that will fill the vacant space.  On cutting back we discovered that the bark had totally split away from the main stems.  It seem our decision was the correct one and already down at ground level there are signs that it is responding well to our harsh treatment.