THE MODERN MINT BLOG
I wrote a manifesto on Modern Topiary, to remind myself of the ideas I am thinking through when composing a new shape.
You can view the seven rules and a few photos of my topiary work on the European Boxwood and Topiary Society website.
The photo above is two mop-heads with rings run through them, to show off the different types of green you get in a golden yew.
But on the EBTS website you will see a couple more photos, one of which is the beginning of an Olaf from the Disney film Frozen… he currently looks quite frightening because his arms haven’t grown, nor has his ‘carrot’ nose, so I have had to pull up some leaf material to begin the shape…
… and this has given him a sort of terrifying open mouth. More like Jack Skellington at Halloween than Olaf!
Here you can read the Manifesto and see the photos.
And if you want to join me on a course, to learn a little more first hand knowledge of how to clip and shape topiary plants, I will be teaching at Waltham Place in September 2023.
Here you can book your tickets to Waltham Place topiary course.
And below is Waltham Place… isn’t it marvellous?
To learn more about Waltham Place, do watch this free video about the philosophy behind a garden transformed into a wilderness…
Box Hill – Novella by Adam Mars-Jones
I picked this book up back in 2020 because of the title – Box Hill – fabulous, I thought, a book about boxwood. I’ll peruse this for its respective thoughts on the plant I clip most when I make topiary. I didn’t read the blurb on the back. Didn’t know the author (although I knew the publisher, Fitzcarraldo Editions, as I love many of the essays they have published… so trusted the author would be worth spending time with.) By page 2 I realised this novel wasn’t quite what I had expected. I started the book at 10pm, after getting …
The Henderson, Topiary Art Interview on Instagram
In a suit… eek! View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Henderson (@thehenderson_hk)
Topiary, The Art Garden at The Henderson
The Art Garden at The Henderson in Hong-Kong has now opened to the public. I joined the project last March, to work with Gillespies Landscape Architects on the topiary that had been designed for the Art Garden, which gives a calm, green space below the extraordinary Henderson skyscraper designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The garden has been designed with butterflies in mind, so lots of nectar plants, and has other art projects and installations within its footprint. The history of the site is interesting too – it was originally the first cricket ground in Hong-Kong! So still a green space….! …