The Genus Garden - Musings From Joff, Our Head Gardener

Hampton Hack

Fans of alliteration will enjoy recent posts from the Genus garden.  Last time The Chelsea Chop.  This week The Hampton Hack!!   Quite where that name originated we don’t know but it...
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Scaling the North Face

We’ve written before about the range of climbing plants that envelop the walls here at Genus HQ.  One such plant that we rarely see in other gardens is Schizophragma hydrangeoides...
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Hot moves

Just like everyone else we’ve been experiencing extremes of heat in the Genus garden over the last week or two.  Heavy rains before it all started have meant that soil...
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Primping and preening

We spent some time in the Genus greenhouse this week.  Early mornings are always best for this operation before the sun creeps over the trees and makes temperatures under glass...
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High stakes

Another lovely week in the Genus garden and once again we're talking staking.  Dahlias in particular have reached a point where they could quickly become a mess if high winds...
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Bad hare day

We’ve been having suspicions for a few weeks.  Bark stripped off a pair of Magnolia stellata, a ground cover rose relieved of all its buds, little scuffs dug out around...
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Enjoying the colour

Some time was spent in the flower garden this week dealing with plants knocked by the previous week's rain and wind.  Tidied up and staked where necessary, we managed to...
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Holiday perils

One of us had a week off recently.  It coincided with the start of the lovely weather and was the perfect time to unwind by the sea.  Unfortunately the garden...
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Euphorbia euphoria

We don’t have a huge collection of euphorbias here at Genus HQ but those we do have are cherished for their contribution to the beds and borders.  In spring visitors...
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Candles in the wind

In the Genus garden Malus, cherry, Sorbus, and Amelanchier are trees with exceptional blossom but a favourite on a totally different scale are the Aesculus trees - the horse chestnuts. ...
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Working around

This week was particularly busy with an upcoming photoshoot looming and everything working around the unpredictable weather.  With heavy rain from the start we spent time in the greenhouse potting...
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Under pressure

We’re under more pressure than usual to get the garden looking nice due to an upcoming photoshoot at the end of the month.  Looking at pictures from this time last...
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Sowing and mowing

More sowing and more mowing were on our list of jobs to get done this week.  Cool mild weather has kept the grass growing and with one large orchard lawn...
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Potting on

Our attention was focussed in and around the Genus greenhouse this week with our seedlings getting either potted on or hardened off.  The sunflowers ‘Ring of Fire’ and ‘Buttercream’ have...
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Net results

We’ve had quite a full week with lots of jobs needing to be done and only a limited amount of time to carry them out.  Firstly we tackled a leaky...
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Mind the gap

‘Mind the gap’ is a familiar term with those of us who've been on the London Underground, but it's also become a common phrase here at Genus HQ in recent years. ...
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Lawn time

With our grass now growing well, lawns were the focus for us this week.  After edging they all received a pass from the mower and produced a surprising amount of...
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Sowing

The beautiful weather of the last few days has propelled us into seed sowing mode.  The majority of our seeds are for annuals; gap fillers and punctuation points to be...
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Cutting back grasses

We've been cutting down our deciduous grasses this week.  In summer one corner of our border is a beautiful tangle of tall perennials such as rudbeckia, helenium, helianthus, and dahlias. ...
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New planting

The recent addition of French doors at genus HQ has opened up a whole new vista for us to observe while eating our breakfast.  Unfortunately the planting in this area...
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Full of the joys

We’ve been wanting to enlarge one of our flower beds for some time and with beautiful weather still on the cards we decided to start work.  The rather rotten wooden...
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