People, Plants + Places

Dutch elm disease, sudden oak death, box moth, and horse chestnut leaf mining moth are issues that we’ve become familiar with in recent years.  It seems another problem has recently...

It’s peak sea holly season at the moment.  The particularly warm weather has brought them on a little earlier than normal but the display is probably the best we’ve seen...

Cephalaria gigantea, the giant scabious, has been in the garden for at least a decade now.  Gently seeding around it has become a major feature of the mid-June garden.  Often...

At last!  Leaving a clump of nettles in the garden has always been recommended as a refuge and food source for insects and other invertebrates.  Results aren’t always immediate, in...

As gardeners we’re always looking for that one special plant.  Ideally a plant that is hardy, flowers for a long period, and is perennial, returning year after year to entertain...

Plants that were part of our education as we discovered the world of horticulture always hold a place in our hearts.  I was reminded of this last Friday as I...

At a time of year when the country lanes and roadside verges are burgeoning with fecundity it's nice to bring a little bit of that same natural ambience into the...

Back in the spring a hedgerow just up the road from Genus HQ was attended to by a hedge-layer.  Stems of blackthorn and hawthorn were partially severed allowing them to...

We all love a compost heap - recycling garden plants to reuse as mulch on the borders is always satisfying.  But compost heaps have other benefits - they are a...

Violas are one of our favourite garden flowers at this time of the year.  They’re affordable, readily available, and most importantly, great performers.  Just a few placed in pots can...

With most of the garden pots and troughs at their peak we thought it wouldn’t hurt to start planning their next reincarnation.  A friend kindly gave us a packet of...

We always demonstrate a degree of restraint and patience when it comes to sowing half hardy annual seeds in the spring.  The resulting plants can’t be put outside until the...

Several years ago we planted a few hundred pea sized bulbs of Fritillaria meleagris into the meadow with the hope of adding some interest in the grass that had lost...

Question: When is blackthorn not blackthorn? Answer: When it’s cherry plum aka myrobalan plum and more formally known as Prunus cerrasifera (pictured). It’s a common theme at this time of...

Most of us with woodburners or an open fire will have a woodpile or log store located somewhere within the garden.  A well organised stack of logs can be a...

With the beautiful weather we’ve been experiencing in recent days, it was too tempting to not take advantage of a few spare hours and have a leisurely wander around the...

It happened overnight.  Or at least that what it felt like.  We'd spent a day rearranging the spring pots - all had showed signs of life but flowers were conspicuous...

​​We spotted some interesting markings on a fallen branch this week.  Anyone old enough to remember the 1960’s and early 70’s will also remember the English elm (Ulmus procera), a...

Although nearing completion, orchard work is still part of the weekly routine.  This involves cutting out any diseased or dead branches and reducing the length of the upright annual growth...

It’s peak season for snowdrop spotting at the moment.  Gardens big and small, from great estates to diminutive English cottages, are all opening up their gardens to keen gardeners and...

We were cutting back fern foliage in the woodland garden this week.  Most were brown and collapsed on the ground but a few plants had retained their colour.  It was...