A beautiful hand-made leather sheath for our ever-popular Hori Hori tool and another product in our series of Cotswold Creators.

Many of you have asked us for an alternative to the plastic sheath that comes with the tool.  So we asked Jeremy and Carla Bonner of the Bonner Studio to design and make a simple sheath that will attach easily and simply to any belt.

The sheath is made of sturdy hand-sewn hide and moulded to the shape of the tool, so the hori hori fits closely with no danger of falling out. 

Buy the hori hori tool as well and you have a truly inspiring gift for the serious gardener.

Note: The hori hori tool is not included in this product.

About The Bonner Leather Studio:

Jeremy & Carla Bonner work together hand stitching leather goods of style and utility in their studio just outside Cirencester, in the Cotswolds. 

Photograph by Alun Callander

Gardening in the sunshine is a wonderful experience, but it can also be risky.  Make sure that you're protected with this sun-safe gardening kit from Genus.

We're including a brilliant sun hat made of real straw mixed with a little bit of polyester to make it flexible and durable.  The hat has ties so it won't fly off in the wind.  You can fold up the hat, pop it in your bag or back pocket and it will spring back into shape when you need it.

The fruit infuser bottle is a godsend in hot weather. This is how you use it:

1. Cut up your favourite fruits or veggies and toss into infuser rod.
2. Fill the water bottle about 75% full to avoid overflowing before inserting filled infuser rod.
3. Finish filling the bottle, replace lid and keep it in the fridge to flavour water fully.

To make sure that you don't burn we've also included Piz Buin sun lotion , 30 SPF.

Enjoy your hot-weather gardening.

A set of six unique greeting cards designed by Cotswold artist Tracey Elphick.

Genus is very much a Cotswold company.  We live and garden here and we love this beautiful area of England.  Over the next few months, we are introducing a range of gift products and gardening accessories made by artists and craftspeople living and working in the Cotswolds.

The first is a range of six greeting cards featuring specially commissioned paintings from Cirencester artist Tracey Elphick.  The paintings are of our very favourite perennial plants, spanning each of the principal points of the colour wheel:

Blue: Delphinium 'Black Knight'
Violet: Salvia superba 'Violet Queen'
Red: Geum flora-plena 'Blazing Sunset'
Orange: Erysimum 'Fire King'
Yellow: Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm'
Green: Euphoria lathyris

The cards are blank so you can write your own message and the pack of six Greeting Cards with envelopes costs £20.  

Size: 7" x 5" with 120gsm white envelopes

About Tracey Elphick:

Tracey paints landscapes of familiar scenes – local streets, harbours and seascapes – places that hold a great deal of visual interest with plenty of structure, colour, shape and form.  Increasingly she is applying her unique style to still life subjects and the flora and fauna she sees around her in the Cotswold countryside.

Fascinated by the opportunities of mixed media, Tracey builds up layers of acrylic, ink, and collage, applying these with anything from sponges, rags, even fingers; scraping into wet paint, spraying, splashing and using quick spontaneous marks to help give a feeling of movement and harmony.

Formally trained in Fine Art from Falmouth Art College in Cornwall, England, Tracey now paints full time from her studio in the Cotswolds.  She has exhibited widely across the region

These six representations of perennial plants, spanning the colour wheel, have been specially commissioned by Genus.