The Gardening Community

This is where we discover what our customers are doing - and wearing - in their gardens.

Grow Your Own on a Balcony

With a national lockdown and supermarkets depleted, producing your own fruit and vegetables has more appeal than ever.  And there’s so much you can grow in the smallest of spaces....
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Women in the Garden

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and with the shops filling up with cards and flowers it got us thinking about the relationship between women and gardening.  I suppose...
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Our New Year resolution:do more gardening

It’s January 1st and with pen poised over a sheet of paper, we’re planning how we’re going to make the very best of 2020.  Some of us are focused on...
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Christmas gifts for gardeners

It’s getting to look a lot like that time of year! We have been really busy here in the Genus packing shed over the last week, as the rush to...
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Forget yoga, try gardening this winter

Exercise addicts are always trying to convince us of the benefits of yoga – increased flexibility, stronger joints and bones and a relaxed body and mind. But did you know...
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Five inspiring ideas for your roof garden

Gardens don’t have to be at ground-level: there are plenty of city dwellers making the most of their available space by creating picture-perfect gardens on rooftops and balconies. Here are five...
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Autumn colour therapy

We have written a number of blogs about how great gardening is for improving gardener’s general levels of health and fitness.  Our health and wellbeing though, is not just a...
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Gardening and the five senses

Gardening is renowned for its therapeutic benefits, helping you to feel more relaxed, alleviating symptoms of stress and depression and allowing you to enjoy nature. In Japan, gardens are designed...
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Count the Painted Lady butterfly

It seems that we are heading for a mass influx of Painted Lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui) over the next few weeks.  Although we get these butterflies regularly during the summer...
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Gardeners can play a part in Citizen Science

One of the surprising things to pop up in the Genus garden lately was a bright shiny green beetle that was all over the sage and lavender bushes.  Curiosity peaked,...
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June and July celebrate the rose

It’s the end of June and we are getting excited about Hampton Court Flower Show which starts soon.  One of the specialties of the show is the grand display of roses as...
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Cotswold strawberries ready for Wimbledon 2019

It’s just a few days to go before Wimbledon 2019 starts. It’s my only must-see sporting event of the year. The strawberries in the Genus garden have been in full...
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Right royal gardeners

In helping to design and plant out the Back To Nature garden at this year's Chelsea Flower Show, the Duchess of Cambridge is continuing a long tradition of gardening amongst...
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Mother's Day flowers

There are many traditional Mother's Day flowers depending on where in the world you look. The British tradition of “Mothering Sunday” started in the sixteenth century and provided an opportunity...
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Gardening and climate change

The recent discussions on climate change in Poland, the Beast from the East followed by a summer drought, as well as the long line of record breaking years including the...
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Brightly coloured flowers affect mood

The concept of colours influencing our moods has been around for a long time. If you are interested in learning about popular interpretations of different colours with a view to...
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Gardening by moonlight

Gardeners will know that gardening is not just a physical activity, it encompasses a philosophy of life, an approach to growing and a favoured set of techniques that vary from...
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Brexit: Lots for gardeners to think about

The country has spoken and it’s out of the EU we will come. There will now be a period of some uncertainty as we come to terms with the new reality and begin the process of untangling ourselves from a host...
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Inspirational gardeners: Vita Sackville-West

Vita Sackville-West has many claims to fame. She was an accomplished writer and poet, circulated amongst the Bloomsbury Group attributed with modernising British social attitudes during the inter war years,...
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Do gardens affect house prices?

We’re back after the excitement of Chelsea. The importance and popularity of gardens in Britain was of course really made obvious at the show. The range of items for gardens...
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Why gardening makes us happy

Time and again, surveys and academic studies prove what we’ve long suspected: gardening really does make us happy.A recent poll of 1,500 UK adults revealed that 80% of people who...
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