THE MODERN MINT BLOG
It is time for the Edinburgh Festival 2018 – hurray for August!
We will be in Edinburgh for 2 days towards the end of month, meaning we miss out on a few days work pruning topiary and cutting the stone fruits in the orchards.
However, it will be great to rest my back a bit and take in some great shows. Many clients are also going to Edinburgh and have been asking for recommendations, so here goes below…. to point you in the right direction:
Jordan Gray: People Change
Mel Byron: Old Movies Saved My Life
Will Seaward: Spooky Midnight Ghost Stories
Eleanor Morton: Great Title, Glamorous Photo – brilliant comic who will be performing here at ‘The Daft & The Dispossessed’ in October. Go buy a ticket!
Tony Law: A Lost Show
Paul Foot: Image Conscious
Pauline Eyre & Rebecca How: Better
Succubus – a lovely, early in the day show. Get the magazine too!
We would also recommend Daniel Rubinstein, Mawaan Rizwan, Sheep, John-Luke Roberts, Leslie Mcjagger, ACMS, Kieran Hodgson, Natalie Palamides, Jordan Brookes, Flo and Joan, Daniel Kitson (if you can get tickets) and Alun Cochrane. I may have forgotten a few. But that will hopefully be enough to get you started!
Hope you enjoy them all!
The Modern Mint Team.
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….! …
ClipFest 2025
On Sunday June 22nd there will be Clipfest 2025 at Ichi-Coo Park in Surrey. It is a celebration of all things pruning and topiary, and I will be there in my capacity of teacher at the European Boxwood and Topiary Society to demonstrate tool cleaning and sharpening, and how to clip. Tickets can be found here on Eventbrite. We are hoping for great weather and to see lots of keen pruners getting their shears out and joining us at this amazing garden! And for more on topiary…
Secateur Holders
A present arrived from Norway today, from a student who visited last February to work with Chris Poole and I on learning topiary. His new hobby – a beautiful and neatly stitched secateur holder. Thrilled with this! The holder will save me keep losing my secatuers too…! Thank you Bernt! It was the same student who introduced me to the APA with whom I am doing a talk at the end of March. Tickets can be bought here for ‘Defining The Essence – Aesthetic Pruning in the Garden’. Do join the European Boxwood and Topiary Society for that!