THE MODERN MINT BLOG

May08

10 Plants for Rain Gardens

For those of you ahead of the bell curve, working on the edges of contemporary garden design, then you will of course be building a rain garden – to slow down, filter, store and re-use rainwater in the garden.

To help you, here are 10 plants for rain gardens….

  1. Rudbeckia
  2. Persicaria
  3. Eupatorium
  4. Monarda
  5. Aster
  6. Hosta
  7. Iris
  8. Miscanthus
  9. Carex
  10. Cornus

What do you notice about these plants? They are all good, tough garden plants whether you have a rain garden or not. Use them!

As a bonus – Crocosmia, Bergenia, Hellebore and Sanguisorba will not have a problem being flooded occasionally either.

As a double bonus – check out the flowers in the daisy family (Asteraceae) – we have already suggested a few in the list above (Rudbeckia, Aster and Eupatorium, if you’re interested) but Helenium and Inula could also be used.

Want a bulb to add? Camassia, that amazing blue flower, is our choice.

Try these to get you started planting up your rain garden – they will make the garden look amazing!

For mor help with your rain garden, try these books:

Feb10

Why I Wrote The Book Modern Topiary

I have written this book, Modern Topiary, because I wanted a collation of useful information that would give people access to everything they need to know in order to start making topiary. Topiary is an amazing (and niche) line of work to follow – amazing because it offers up opportunities to travel all over the world, making gardens, meeting people… but also, the work is intensely physical, hands-on, yet requires creative thinking in order to solve the puzzle of how to make the shapes you want. This mixture of the craft and the art is what I love the most …

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Jan30

Buxus the Norfolk Terrier In Modern Topiary Book

This is Buxus, our Norfolk Terrier, who I acknowledge in the acknowledgments of the book of Modern Topiary. The book of Modern Topiary can be read, for free, here. There you go. Buxus the dog on ‘doorstep duty’ at a friend’s house in Edinburgh. For those asking what he looked like!

Jan30

What People Think Of Modern Topiary, The Book

Yesterday I put out the book – Modern Topiary – that I have spent the last six years writing. Download for free a pdf of Modern Topiary here. And what seems amazing to me, is that not only have people actually been reading it, but then responding to it. So below are a number of comments I have been sent from those who read it last night, and this morning…. “Brilliant read, exactly the right amount of info to take in and digest.” Rachel, a gardener “I love your book, the advice is so straightforward and your writing is so …

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