THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Pictures of the South African meadow at Wisley in 2014 – anyone notice what’s gone wrong? Wisley may have had …
The Big Tree Plant
Funding has been secured from DEFRA through the Big Tree Plant programme to plant 17,000 trees in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk over a period of two years. Over 8000 trees were pplanted last season and there are another 9000 to go from this October 2014 to February 2015. What do you need to do? Provide a site which will take a minimum of 200 whips at 1m spacing. Provide a site that is publicly accessible. Encourage the local community to get involved in the planting and (ideally) the upkeep too. What will Groundworks Essex (who secured the funding) do? Help …
Gilding the Lily – Amy Stewart (Part Two)
Gilding the Lily by Amy Stewart is the culmination of the research she did on the cut flower industry. It is a fascinating book that leaves you asking a lot of uncomfortable questions about what role cut flowers (a luxury item) play in your life. And of course, you start asking questions about where you get them from… (Here you can buy Gilding the Lily. While here is Part One from our blog.) The research in the book is detailed enough that it gives a clear insight into how the cut flower industry works – from scaling up in operations to meet market demand at …
Gilding the Lily – Amy Stewart (Part One)
Gilding the Lily: Inside the Cut Flower Industry by Amy Stewart is about the life of a cut flower before it arrives in the shop. Her extensive research is a must-read – this is not a book designed solely for people interested in growing flowers, or people who love the beauty of flowers in the house – it is a book that has a wider focus and is able to join the dots between first world consumption, the quest for a luxury item and what happens to an industry when a product (and the people who create it) become a commodity measured …