You may remember our disappointment a few weeks ago when we wrote of the sorry state of the garden at Genus HQ after the winds and rain had battered the...
Plants are like children. There are the naughty troublesome ones that require constant supervision, the loud shouty ones that are actually quite delicate, and the ones that just quietly get...
Forward notes are a wonderful thing. There’s always so much to do in the garden that without some planning important jobs would be missed. And so it was this week...
We mentioned late season colour last time and we also mentioned that our focus was on our spring borders which have been lacklustre for the last few years. Consequently the...
We’ve been honing the late season colour palette of the garden at Genus HQ over the last few years, going from ‘not a lot’ to ‘more than enough’. Each year...
Scion, cleft, four flap, and whip are some of the terms we’re getting acquainted with over the next few weeks; words we haven’t used since our college days! Last week...
2020 must surely go down as the gardeners’ ‘year of the cherry’. We’ve waited years for our trees to produce a respectable crop and this year they excelled, benefiting from...
We’ve talked about the climbing plants at Genus HQ before and we’ve probably mentioned the philadelphus on the north side of the cottage. Planted in the border some years ago...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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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The Genus Garden - Musings From Joff, Our Head Gardener
