The Genus Garden - Musings From Joff, Our Head Gardener

Splitting and dividing

Some of our favourite plants in the Genus garden are also some of the most successful; they put on so much growth that we dig up and divide them every...
Read More

Dry stone walls

Dry stone walls are a key feature of the Cotswolds where we are based, criss-crossing the hills and meadows creating beautiful field boundaries that total a remarkable 4,000 miles.  Some...
Read More

Ivy for nature

Much maligned for strangling trees and pulling mortar from house walls, ivy (Hedera helix) is a plant that we should  all try to love just a little bit more.  Surrounded...
Read More

Chinese lanterns

Every autumn our Cape Gooseberries announce themselves with bright orange lanterns that go hand in hand with falling leaves, the smell of wood smoke, and the gradual decline of the...
Read More

Horse Chestnut

We are very lucky to have two semi mature horse chestnut trees in the Genus garden.  They shelter our three large leafmould enclosures and provide us with a degree of...
Read More
Incredibly reliable and requiring so little attention our two Leycesteria formosa or Himalayan Honeysuckle are real beacons in the garden at this time of year.  Making a change from the...
Read More
We love our beautiful anemones that grow quietly away with little fuss or interference from us.  They bring a splash of light into the north side of the house, welcoming...
Read More

Growing tomatoes

We always grow far too many tomatoes.  Packets of tomato seeds seem to be one of the favourite choices for gardening magazines to give away and we sow all of these free seeds.  Unfortunately,...
Read More
There’s plenty to harvest this month. And with the days getting shorter and cooler, try to make the most of the remaining warmth and enjoy your late summer garden. Dig...
Read More

The vole

Found in a hole in the large ash tree next to the front gate was this little fellow; not a mouse, but a vole.  We seem to have a lot...
Read More
Joff, our gardener, has been on holiday for the last three weeks so everything is behind and the rest of the team have been struggling to fit in some gardening...
Read More

Harvesting

It’s a very busy time in the Genus garden.  The flower garden can pretty much look after itself for a few weeks, just a bit of weeding, tying in, and...
Read More
It’s June and the Genus garden is really beginning to bloom. The downside of all the seasonal growth is the constant battle with weeds. It’s one of the most important...
Read More

As worn by...

Last weekend it was World Naked Gardening Day and just for once the weather was kind to those busying with their borders in the buff. Here at Genus we are of...
Read More
The days are getting warmer and it’s time to tidy up spring plants and get ready for the summer. Here are our top 10 jobs for you to do now:...
Read More
We’ve been asking gardeners this question for some time now.   The answers embody universal truths, as well as being as personal and individual as the gardeners themselves.  They make great...
Read More
One of the very best things about Christmas is the gift giving, and how much nicer if those gifts come from the heart as homemade treats? The garden is a...
Read More

Late summer flowers

Although many gardeners might think that summer abundance is coming to an end and the only option is for their garden to look ‘green’ at this time of year, with the warmer climate we have these days, the summer in recent years...
Read More
The days are getting longer and, despite the most dreadful weather over the last few days, there is a sniff of Spring in the Genus garden, so we have started...
Read More
Well, it’s here. December has arrived. The weather for the past three days has been gorgeous, cold, crisp, and frosty. The garden looks like Christmas is on the way, so...
Read More

Digging up the Dahlias

With the extended autumn and above average warmth, it has been a little time coming, but we are now putting the Genus garden to bed...
Read More