THE MODERN MINT BLOG
This Chelsea Fringe we are running a project called ‘You Should Have Seen It Last Week…’
Taking part is the Uruguayan paisajista Amalia Robredo. She sent us two options for photos – the one above, or the one we eventually chose (that can be seen on the project page – just follow the link above!)
She wrote this about her choice of plants to photo:
“It was a difficult choice as we are in the end of autumn and there is not really much to change in the weeks to come.
I wanted the picture to reflect the place where I live, that is why it had to have the sea and it has a very specific plant community that only takes place in this coastal area, it is called “matorral espinoso psamófilo” (Our Note: ‘the spiny scrub?’), it holds some endemic species and it is an endangered community due to urban development.
I wanted to have Cortaderia selloana (Pampa grass) as it is a plant that many around the world know and I thought it could be interesting to see it in its native setting.
I hope you like them.”
We certainly do. The photograph is stunning and provides a wonderful contrast to the gardens and plants that are taking part in the project from the Northern Hemisphere.
To learn more about Amalia and her work you can buy here book here…
Or read this by Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury – Planting: A New Perspective
EBTS Boxwood Growers Forum
Through the European Boxwood and Topiary Society I worked with Chris Poole and Sue Mesher, members of the EBTS board, and we set up a Boxwood Growers Forum. This was to discuss how to make sure this wonderful topiary plant stays in the public conscioussness – we know many growers, suppliers and distributors have stopped selling it as the cost of replacing boxwood that has blight, or is nibbled by the boxwood caterpillar, makes it unviable to offer to clients and gardeners. But Boxwood is a phoenix plant, and there are ways to deal with the problems associated with Buxus. …
Modern Topiarist @ Garden Masterclass Poland
My video on Modern Topiary for Garden Masterclass has been translated into Polish, for the keen gardeners (and happy pruners!) of Garedn Masterclass in Poland. Tickets for the first showing and q and a were available here. But it will become available on the Garden Masterclass Poland website at some point in the near future – so if you are a keen clipper and want to know more, but speak Polish and not English, then I suggest you visit the website and get watching. (Of course, if you don’t speak English, you may not be able to read this…. hmmm… …
Topiary Hotline
The European Boxwood & Topiary Society are to run a Topiary Hotline for keen gardeners and people who love to clip. Date is tomorrow, April 16th 2024, and you can get a ticket for the Zoom meeting here – Topiary Hotline. Run by Chris Poole and myself, we set this up as an antidote to the huge amount of questions we have to answer about topiary throughout the summer. The plus is that their is an excitement around topiary and pruning. The problem is we need to help people in a better way… … so we will be giving people …