THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Bird Feeder
Heartened and cheered to discover the British public love to help the birds!
We discovered these bird feeders recently and thought – you know what, we need to give these a go. They are remanufactured from black plastic plant pots, the ones you get in every single damn nursery, shop, hardware store and garden centre going… the same ones that cannot be recycled.
You only have two options with where to get rid of them when you have removed your plant from the pot – either reuse the pot until it breaks, or send it to be crushed up for landfill.
Which is why these bird feeders are so amazing – they take these pots that would normally go to landfill and turn them into something useful!
And because they are plastic they are robust enough to cope with a British winter. And they look great. What more do you need?
As we said, we thought – let’s give these a go and see if anyone else thinks they are brilliant. The feedback we have received has been magnificent – we sold out in the second week!
We now have a few more in stock but they are going fast so please please please you wonderful British public who are so keen to help wildlife – get your recycled bird feeders right now, or you may miss out.
The picture we have shows the birds eating an apple – we prefer raspberries threaded onto the metal spike, and we think the birds probably do as well…
If you need more ideas about what to feed the birds, we also have this fabulous bird cake kit to show you…
Basically, you get this bird feeder (the picture shows you the blue one, but we also offer a red bird feeder) that is also recycled – from yoghurt pots!
Then with it comes the bird cake ingredients and the recipe instructions, plus a few more hints and tips about what to feed the birds in your garden. Educating you, getting hands on making a cake for birds (Mary Berry style?) and then doing something to encourage wildlife into your garden and keep it coming back for more… what a fantastic product.
All of that PLUS what we mentioned at the start – it keep plastic out of landfill – right on!
Do you bit for wildlife and get a bird feeder or bird cake kit this Autumn, or as a present for someone this Christmas – with these, we can all enjoy doing our bit…
Michael Gibson, New York Topiary Art!
In the New York Times earlier this year was a lovely interview with Michael Gibson, who makes topiary and gardens in New York. The article is here but you may not have access… however, search the internet, find it and have a read. It is great! His philosophy of pruning is especially worth it… Sacred geometry in topiary? Yes please! What a phrase! I think (and speak) of balance, of major and minor, of leaf volume… but sacred geometry might well make it into my topiary teaching lexicon! And the idea of directional trimming? I realise I do this, but …
Topiary Library
I do a lot of teaching topiary. I had the opportunity from my mentor, Charlotte Molesworth, to work on her garden and experiment and test techniques and generally try making shapes without the worry of failure, or being fired, or being sued and run out of business for getting it wrong. This opportunity was essential (along with Charlotte’s insistance that pruning standards had to be high!) in becoming better at topiary. When I look around the world at our cultural vitamins, what we see in the media day in and day out, I see the stupidest and grossest of people …
Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue
With Chris Poole of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society we visited Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue in Rutland. Do you know it? Amazing place! Chris and I were teaching a topiary workshop in order to give local people the skills and technique, and tenacity! to help with the pruning of the avenue and elevate it to something even more special than it already is. Read more about the workshops here. We hope to run a further workshop in September 2026, as well as teach an advanced course too. Check the teaching page through the year as it will be updated …