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…
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 …
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!
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 …