Last year's wet spring followed by a mild summer led to incredibly enthusiastic growth from the plants in the garden at Genus HQ. Many normally well behaved perennials grew above head height, dahlias excelled, and our Geranium ‘Rozanne’...
An early morning wander through the woodland garden at Genus HQ is joy at this time of year. No sooner are the spring bulbs dying back than the shrubs - Choisya ‘Aztec Pearl’ , Cotinus, and Physocarpus ‘Diabolo’- are...
Sometimes sheer curiosity takes over and leads us down several (metaphorical) garden paths. Several weeks ago we wrote about the cherry trees at Genus HQ and hand in hand with cherry trees goes Collingwood Ingram (1880-1981) better known...
With beautiful bright conditions in the Genus garden we spent some time in the greenhouse sowing a selection of seeds. One of them, canary creeper, is an annual climber related to Nasturtium and something we haven’t grown for...
Every spring sees frenzied activity on a corner of the Genus HQ lawn. Flying at low level are a dozen or so ashy mining bees searching for new mates and new plots in which to create their subterranean...
A corner of the Genus garden is affectionately known as Cherry Tree Corner and at this time of year it comes into its own with Prunus serrulata ‘Shirotae’, P. Serrula, P. sargentii, and P. x yedoensis all boasting...
Two weeks ago we mentioned our excitement in the spring while waiting for toads to return to our pond and make merry, where they leave their ribbons of spawn like urgent messages tapped out in morse code. They...
We’re quick off the block in the Genus vegetable garden this year. We planted our first-early potatoes (Epicure) in a nice deep trench and covered them with our homemade compost topped off with the excavated soil. It’s a small bed...
With the sun shining we decided to give the orchard lawn its first cut of the year. We removed fallen twigs and sticks and in some areas the grass was surprisingly long, but the job was soon done...
Spring has sprung, birds are singing, and borders are coming back to life with early blooms of snowdrops, daffodils, and winter flowering shrubs. But the slowly rising temperatures have initiated other activity in the garden, where we’ve...
We’ve had a busy week at Genus HQ, not on large important projects, but on the smaller jobs that often get relegated to the bottom of the list. The wind-felled Amelanchier which we spoke...
Without invitation, Storm Dudley passed through the Genus garden last week. ‘Only a broken pot’ or so we thought, until from the kitchen window we spotted the top of our 12-year-old Amelanchier lamarckii somewhat nearer to the ground...
After raking out fallen branches and debris from under our recently renovated beech hedge (we gave it a serious short back, top, and sides) we decided to renew and freshen up the adjacent path with bark chips. ...
Lovely weather for the last few days has given us a great opportunity to get to work pruning the apple and pear trees in our orchard. We deal with each tree in layers. Firstly, everything at ground...
Back in early December, 10:35 am on the 8th to be precise, we sowed four rows of broad beans in the Genus vegetable garden. Through all the recent cold, freezing, wet weather those seeds have been busy, first...
Recent mulching activity at Genus HQ has left the compost heaps empty and ready to receive more material to use later this year. One bay containing recently cut-back and uncomposted material was full to the brim and needed...
Searching for interest in the garden at this time of year can often be a challenge. The early bulbs may be starting to show, the wonderful range of coloured and textured tree barks can be appreciated, and of...
Last month we were busy weeding, cutting back perennials, and planting tulip bulbs in the flower garden. With that work completed, the beds were ready for a mulch to be applied. Very much like pulling a duvet over...
We recently started to fill the bird feeders that sit just outside the French doors at Genus HQ. It didn’t take long for the local population to discover what we’d done and within days all the usual suspects...
As gardeners we love it when plants behave, flower well, and appear to have read the book on good behaviour. Maybe that salvia hard-pruned in late spring has flowered non-stop all summer and even now in that sheltered...
As you enter into the flower garden at Genus HQ you pass under a metal arch planted with a rose, clematis, and honeysuckle; a beautiful combination, scented, and often providing a nesting site for chaffinches or thrushes.
If you love gardening, our magazine will inspire you. It's totally free, arrives once a month by email and always has a special deal just for subscribers
