THE MODERN MINT BLOG
My name is Darren Lerigo. I am a gardener and topiary artist and I provide garden talks for clubs all over the UK – and now via Zoom as well!
If you are a speaker finder in need of a talk, then please do get in touch. But please note this is a short introduction to my talks. For full information, go to Garden Club Speaker For Your Group.
With my talks, I hope to:
- Provide your group with something interesting, informative and fun.
- Make your life as easy as possible. I will do this by turning up on time, bringing equipment that works, making sure the fee and travel expenses are good value for your group and giving a talk that makes your group happy they have come to see it.
- Speak as lightly and clearly as possible, without making it a dry lecture.
- Do my best to cover at the last minute, if your speaker is unable to make the talk.
Here is a small selection of what people say about my talks:
“Many thanks for a great talk (as usual!) I have had 26 emails today saying how much they enjoyed your talk.” Langham Beekeepers
“Thank you so much, it was an excellent presentation which everyone enjoyed very much.
I think you passion for gardening shone through and you delivered your talk with great fluency, humour and knowledge. Everyone I spoke to afterwards was very impressed.
Perhaps you could send me details of your other talks and which date you would prefer?” Holywell and Needingworth Garden Club
“Everyone enjoyed your talk. There was quite a buzz!” Oddfellows Group, Suffolk
I have extensive experience, giving over 50 talks per year, as well as speaking at Blenheim Palace and The National Flower Show, running topiary workshops, leading garden tours and for EBKA giving the Ted Hooper Memorial Lecture.

Available Talks
- What Do I Do With This Space? (Ideas on garden design and maintenance)
- Diluted (How to cope with excessive heat and a lack of rain on our gardens)
- Clippings (Making topiary and how to use it in the garden)
- Helping The Honeybee (Sharing the very best garden plants for bees)
- A Very British Garden (Ideas for plants that suit a British garden)
Talks are 50-60 minutes plus q&a. I can provide my own projector.
Cost of My Talks
My speaker fee is £120 for groups and clubs.
Concessions are available for smaller clubs of 25 people or less.
For Zoom talks, the cost is £75.
Travel expenses can be discussed, but I travel all over the UK to speak and will do my best to make this cost manageable for both your group and myself.
Who I Talk To
- Gardening Clubs
- Horticultural Societies
- WI’s
- Oddfellows
- Beekeeper Groups
- Allotment Societies
- U3A’s
- Fellowships
- Church Groups
- Anyone else who needs an entertaining, informative speaker!
“Thank you so much Darren. Your talk was much appreciated and enjoyed by our members.” Benfleet Horticultural Society
To book a talk or to find out more, please do contact me now.
Why I Wrote The Book Modern Topiary
I have written this book, Modern Topiary, because I wanted a collation of useful information that would give people access to everything they need to know in order to start making topiary. Topiary is an amazing (and niche) line of work to follow – amazing because it offers up opportunities to travel all over the world, making gardens, meeting people… but also, the work is intensely physical, hands-on, yet requires creative thinking in order to solve the puzzle of how to make the shapes you want. This mixture of the craft and the art is what I love the most …
Buxus the Norfolk Terrier In Modern Topiary Book
This is Buxus, our Norfolk Terrier, who I acknowledge in the acknowledgments of the book of Modern Topiary. The book of Modern Topiary can be read, for free, here. There you go. Buxus the dog on ‘doorstep duty’ at a friend’s house in Edinburgh. For those asking what he looked like!
What People Think Of Modern Topiary, The Book
Yesterday I put out the book – Modern Topiary – that I have spent the last six years writing. Download for free a pdf of Modern Topiary here. And what seems amazing to me, is that not only have people actually been reading it, but then responding to it. So below are a number of comments I have been sent from those who read it last night, and this morning…. “Brilliant read, exactly the right amount of info to take in and digest.” Rachel, a gardener “I love your book, the advice is so straightforward and your writing is so …
