THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Walk in the Woods
During the month of May the Tree Council are promoting ‘Walk in the Woods’ – encouraging people to go out …
Jake Hobson and Creative Pruning
The buxus hedge in the picture above – ripe for pruning! Jake Hobson is a cloud pruning specialist, and we love his work here at Modern Mint. But what is creative pruning/organic topiary? It is a step away from the traditional or old-fashioned forms of topiary and into something with a freer form, something that has movement to it, an opulence, a life force. We realise we are heading into esoteric territory here, but we are talking about a creative act, one that works best when hedge and pruner are working together symbiotically… the pruner bringing attention to a shape half hidden, the …
Hypertufa High Jinks
The Chelsea Fringe is about all things gardening, but that doesn’t mean you always have to be outside. One of the online projects you can see at this years festival is ‘Hypertufa High Jinks’… … ‘Hypertufa High Jinks’ is run by garden writer Ansel Oommen and science artist Cynthia Nguyen. Follow Hetty the hypertufa elephant as she travels the ‘world’, magnifying the tiny spaces around us that often go unnoticed. So come down and take a closer look: that patch of weeds may as well be a jungle or that pebble, a treacherous mountain. You never know what stories lurk …
Furzelea, Essex, NGS
Today Modern Mint visited another garden in Essex that was open for the NGS (last week was Ulting Wick.) The garden is designed and looked after by owner of the house Avril and her husband, who nowadays is chief pruner – for example, on this lovely yew ‘blob’… how we love to see shapes like these (especially next to a wilder or more chaotic planting…!) Imagine cloud pruning this (yew is forgiving, should you get it wrong!) What a fun days work, a physical and mental exercise, training your patience and your creative eye… if the shears you used for cloud pruning …