THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Flower Show, Oxford
This weekend, August 22nd-24th, you can visit Flowers at Oxford. It is hosted by Lady Margaret Hall, a beautiful Oxford college, and is being used as a showcase for the best in floral design.
We heard about it through Flowers from the Farm, who will be there promoting British flowers over the weekend. We support Flowers from the Farm because they “want to see a new generation of florists inspired by seasonal, local, sustainable British flowers.”
As a former flower grower ourselves, we recognise how great it is to get fresh blooms from your own garden. We try very hard to get our clients to grow their own flowers too.
Don’t be shy, head over to Flowers at Oxford this weekend, watch the demonstrations, see (and smell) the difference between British grown cut flowers and those imported from the equator, fall in love with the vast range of colours and textures seasonal flowers can provide – and spread the word!
Where better to spend a weekend smelling the flowers than Oxford?
(For more on growing your own flowers, try Sarah Raven – there is lots of information here!)
The Amelia Project – Episode 88: Didius Julianus
Friends of mine write a sitcom podcast called The Amelia Project (I wrote about this years ago, when they started it….!) December 2024 I had some fun playing the tiny part of Fornio in episode 88 – Didius Julianus. I have not listened to the episode yet, as I am clearly not an actor… and the thought of listening to my dulcet tones for the few minutes I’m in it just… makes me feel ill. But the recording and being in the studio was great fun, the real actors were hilarious and the script is brilliant – not just funny, …
Waltham Place Topiary Workshop 2026
With the European Boxwood and Topiary Society, I run two workshops each year at Waltham Place, one of my favourite gardens. The next topiary workshop there will be on Friday September 4th 2026. Details and how to book yet to be announced, but get in touch with them now to get on the waiting list, as last year we had double the amount of people wanting a place than we had space for. The Waltham Place website is here – topiary workshop 2026. See the teaching page for how else I can help you with the topiary in your garden …
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 …