THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Our Chelsea Fringe project ‘You Should Have Seen It Last Week…’ is now finished and up on the website, where you can see all the pictures taken by our brilliant collaborators… collaborators who hailed from all corners of the globe.
Their efforts were brilliant and the body of work fascinating – when flicking through the photos you get this record of nature in fast forward – it not only provokes comment (‘hey look, the colour of the sea today!’) but makes you question how worthy a plant may be (‘that peony took nearly three weeks to flower, then finished in two days…’)
We also loved this about the Chelsea Fringe – people came together, talked, shared, opened their arms up to each other – all because of the gardens they care for.
The reasons to garden are so varied – to save the planet, to save the pollinators, to grow food, to prune, to show off your skills or just to show-off – yet everyone is bound by the same rules… that sunlight, water and earth will mean something grows, and where something grows something is shared.
Here is what we share with you then, our Chelsea Fringe project for 2014, from 3 different continents and 6 different countries… you should have seen it last week? Well, now you can…
The Amelia Project – Episode 88: Didius Julianus
Friends of mine write a sitcom podcast called The Amelia Project (I wrote about this years ago, when they started it….!) December 2024 I had some fun playing the tiny part of Fornio in episode 88 – Didius Julianus. I have not listened to the episode yet, as I am clearly not an actor… and the thought of listening to my dulcet tones for the few minutes I’m in it just… makes me feel ill. But the recording and being in the studio was great fun, the real actors were hilarious and the script is brilliant – not just funny, …
Waltham Place Topiary Workshop 2026
With the European Boxwood and Topiary Society, I run two workshops each year at Waltham Place, one of my favourite gardens. The next topiary workshop there will be on Friday September 4th 2026. Details and how to book yet to be announced, but get in touch with them now to get on the waiting list, as last year we had double the amount of people wanting a place than we had space for. The Waltham Place website is here – topiary workshop 2026. See the teaching page for how else I can help you with the topiary in your garden …
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 …