THE MODERN MINT BLOG

Sep18

The Big Tree Plant

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 organise the communities involvement.

Provide protection for the trees from rabbits, strimmers etc…

Help design the scheme with their Landscape architect.

Provide additional trees and shrubs that are larger than whips if this is deemed necessary.

Tailor the design to suit your needs and site.

And most importantly…?

Fund up to 75% of the whole cost of the project, or even more than that if there is match funding or donations of time from another source.

How do you find out more?

To find out more about the Big Tree Plant scheme please get in touch with Kim Howell on 01268 752368; kim.howell@groundwork.org.uk

Aug04

Box Hill – Novella by Adam Mars-Jones

I picked this book up back in 2020 because of the title – Box Hill – fabulous, I thought, a book about boxwood. I’ll peruse this for its respective thoughts on the plant I clip most when I make topiary. I didn’t read the blurb on the back. Didn’t know the author (although I knew the publisher, Fitzcarraldo Editions, as I love many of the essays they have published… so trusted the author would be worth spending time with.) By page 2 I realised this novel wasn’t quite what I had expected. I started the book at 10pm, after getting …

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Apr14

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….! …

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