The Genus Garden - Musings From Joff, Our Head Gardener

Chelsea Results

No not the latest football scores!  We’ve already mentioned how organised we’ve been this year with our mulching and timely staking.  Another job we carried out was the much vaunted...
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Pretty in Pink

We’ve started spotting one of our favourite plants in several gardens recently.  Deservedly so.  Dianthus carthusianorum comes from Spain and other parts of Europe where it’s primarily a grassland species but...
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High summer is here with gardens in full bloom and plenty of vegetables to crop and enjoy. Here’s how to keep on top of it all: With garden centres teaming...
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Annual leaves

After the excitement of spring and the fecundity of early June we have started to fill areas in the garden with annual flowers.  Some have already been sown in-situ and...
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We’ve had a busy few days in the Genus garden.  For some time a large Choisya has threatened to block a path and crowd out a lovely variegated holly.  We...
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Pond life

Our pond at Genus HQ brings us so much joy as well as a myriad of life into the garden.  There’s not a month in the year when something isn’t...
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Summer is here at last and roses and many perennials are flowering in earnest. There’s still lots to do but make time to appreciate the results of your hard work....
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From cold to hot

We paid for our enthusiasm and early planting when our french beans got nipped by the frost a few weeks ago but luckily a layer of fleece protected them from...
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A couple of years ago, we were looking to change the factory where our clothes are manufactured.  We had been using a facility in the east of China, but we...
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Social climbers

Genus HQ is looking fabulous at the moment with the cottage swathed in climbers at their absolute prime.  Blending the house into the garden, their enthusiasm for life requires a...
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Blooming iris

Last year we split and divided clumps of bearded iris that fill the border on the south side of Field Cottage.  Each rhizome was carefully checked for disease, some were...
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Stake and Chicks

Every year we promise ourselves that we’ll be a step ahead with the staking of plants at Genus HQ.  We rarely get it right but this year have avoided the...
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Spring has sprung at last and there’s plenty to do in the garden. Here are our top 10 jobs for you to do now. Prune your penstemon now - provided there...
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Lockdown is a great time to read and skill up, and for anyone wanting to learn more about garden design, this bestselling classic gives you a thorough grounding in the...
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Blue is the colour

Visitors who come to Genus HQ pass by a small border that looks especially good at this time of year.  Early primroses in February set the theme and are followed...
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The Woodland Garden

Located to the side of a small copse our woodland garden is a great success at this time of year.  Recently carpeted with narcissi and snowdrops and containing a range...
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On a High

We’ve left some of our pruning of the apple and pears rather late this year so it was a case of ‘out with the tripod ladder’ and ‘get up high’...
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Fanned Scent

A small bed against  the north wall of Genus HQ is planted with a nice mix of  geranium, hellebores, saroccoca, and bulbs.  Several years ago a favourite philadelphus was threatening...
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Why do you garden?

There are so many different reasons that people garden.  Here is a selection of thoughts from our customers. I love being outside in different seasons working with the soil and...
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A Day in the Sun

Wonderful weather this week has allowed us to make some progress in the garden.  An area in the woodland garden has a number of Betula jacquemontii underplanted with a variety of...
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So the Spring equinox has arrived, the time when the day and night are equally long, and we know we are moving towards the longer days of summer.  Here in the Genus...
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