THE MODERN MINT BLOG
How do you grow Cassia in the UK? You have to make it up as you go along….
We have found a lovely, short interview about growing the botanicals for Bombay Sapphire Gin in 2 glasshouses in Hampshire (near where we learnt to garden just outside Basingstoke!)
According to the gardener Chris Cottrell, who runs the glasshouses at Laverstoke Mill, the only other place in the country that is growing cassia is Kew, so when it starts to look unhealthy there are not a lot of places to turn for advice.
It is the bark of the cassia tree that is used to flavour Bombay Sapphire Gin.
Read the article here.
Grab a bottle of Bombay Sapphire here.
Or discover more about UK Gin, the artisans that make it and the range of botanicals used in one of our most popular blog posts at Modern Mint – Best Gin 2017 – The Most Useful Guide To UK Gin.
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….! …