THE MODERN MINT BLOG
What do I do with this space? A question clients often ask us, a question we often ask ourselves.
So it became the title of our new talk for winter 2014/2015… but to answer this question, we have realised, is a huge undertaking.
Exploring potential answers left us delving deeper and deeper into new ideas, unpacking thoughts and contemplating the words of garden philosophers, and feeling ever more entangled by the question we had set out to explore. How could such a simple question become so complex? Or as Clarice Lispector puts it in The Passion According to G.H.:
“I don’t know what to do with the horrifying freedom that can destroy me.”
And doesn’t that sum it up well – what do I do with this space? Really, you can do anything.
The art or science or whatever you want to call it is left to you, the way you think and feel and what you know and don’t know… and of course, the ‘don’t-knows’ you are willing to explore.
The talk takes in the work of people from all over the world – starting in Japan, then ending in a dream garden via Scandinavia, Spain, Uruguay, Sheffield and the kitchen of a Parisian chef. It also quotes Motehr Teresa and Jack Gilbert, just to keep the audience on its toes!
It is a fascinating question we have set ourselves and we have had a riot exploring potential answers. Please do come along to the premiere of this new garden talk on Wednesday in Chignall, 7.30pm start.
You can find all the details here on our Talks page.
We hope to see you soon, to share this discussion with us as we ask the question:
Modern Topiary, the Book, at Garden Media Guild
My book about topiary, Modern Topiary, has been mentioned on the Garden Media Guild newsletter…. As the screenshot says, the book can be read for free online here. At the bottom of the screenshot, it looks like another Garden Media Guild member has a book out called ‘A Year In A Cottage Garden’…. so if that is where your garden heart lies, check that out too! And at the top of the screenshot, it looks like I was listening to Pelleas et Melisande, by Debussy. What a classy chap I am, listening to classical music as I reply to emails. …
Start of the Whitby Topiary Library
I have been offered a space here in the centre of Whitby, south-facing aspect, with some raised beds in, so that I can make a Topiary Library. In my head, a topiary library is a place to showcase the common (and then not so common) shapes you can make out of topiary. With classical topiary plants, as well as some more unusual pieces. This Topiary Library can act as a reference for people to learn more about pruning and clipping. The space is small but the aspect is great and the beds are deep enough to put some plants in. …
Delivery After Dark – From the Makers of The Amelia Project
Last week I spent most nights stood in cold water streams on the moors of North Yorkshire, helping to film a new project called Delivery After Dark from the makers of the Amelia Project. I worked on the Amelia Project back at the end of 2024, lending my terrible vocal talents to a small part in the episode Didius Julianus. But this project is something new – and exciting! – and thankfully only needed me to be filmed, rather than to actually say anything. But not only did I have to stand in cold moving water at midnight, I also …