The Genus Garden

Our pond in the Genus garden comes alive every spring when our resident toads leave their winter quarters in the dry-stone walls and head for the water.  Much merriment ensues,...

Our orchard has had an underwhelming year - cherries non-existent, plums, so-so, and apples patchy.  ‘Beauty of Bath’, a pillar box red apple from the 1860’s bucked the trend as...

We were having a bit of a move-around this week.  Digging up perennials, splitting them, replanting, and potting up any excess.  Recent downpours will instantly date this blog but we...

When you’ve been gardening for several decades the ebb and flow of the seasons come as second nature.  Snowdrops in winter, apple blossom in spring, dahlias in summer.  Simple. So...

We suspect it’s a common experience amongst most gardeners.  You go away for a summer break, two weeks if you’re lucky, and return to a garden that has outgrown its...

The dearth of insect life in 2024 hasn’t gone unreported and as gardeners, we’ve perhaps noticed more than ever the distinct lack of buzzing around our flower beds.  A long...

When visiting a friend's garden in mid-summer, it's often a surprise to spot plants acting out of the ordinary.  What’s usually brought to our attention is a spring flowering shrub...

This year we dedicated one of the vegetable beds to a selection of flowering annuals.  About 5 metres long by less than 1 metre wide, we wanted to inject some...

‘It takes a skilled gardener to grow a decent cauliflower’.  That's what we were told many years ago by a local expert- one of the old boys in the village...

It’s peak daylily season in the Genus garden at the moment.  Daylilies (Hemerocallis), are reliable rhizomatous perennial plants that bulk up quickly providing newly planted borders with rapid cover.  Hemerocallis is...

Our early January planting of white ‘Sturon’ and red ‘Retano’ onion sets was ready to be lifted this week.  In the adjacent bed, our garlic was starting to show symptoms...

A tiny speck of red caught my eye as I wandered past the vegetable garden this week.  A specimen of Anagallis arvensis - Scarlet Pimpernel - was growing amongst the...

We’ve written about our wall-trained Philadelphus before and it surprises us with its beauty every year.  Several years ago and taking up too much space within the north-facing border we...

Many of us are proud of our gardens in June.  Fresh and fecund with roses, early clematis, lupins and foxgloves - they're a sight to behold.  Pinks, blues, purples and...

We were blessed with fantastic weather for our early summer photoshoot this week.  With Gloucestershire head gardener Anton Blackie, ex Highrove gardener Nicola Hope MHort, nursery owner Rosie Hardy, and social...

Our woodland garden at Genus HQ is located around centuries old quarry workings.  Spoil from the subterranean stone mine was piled up creating a 30 metre long mound nearly 3...

The recent hot weather drew our attention to the narrow border that butts up to the back of the cottage at Genus HQ.  South facing, and with well drained soil it’s...

We might not be celebrating a birthday but the candles are out at Genus HQ .  Our magnificent Horse Chestnut trees are in flower - it’s something we look forward...

A bout of seed sowing last month in the Genus greenhouse has started to pay dividends and despite the recent cold weather most of our seeds have germinated and put...

Cowslips!  They started appearing in the orchard lawn at Genus HQ about five years ago and with judicious mowing have continued to thrive.  What was once half a dozen plants...

Regular readers will have seen the sad news reported in our February blog where toads that make an annual pilgrimage from their winter quarters out of our dry stone walls,...