THE MODERN MINT BLOG
A simple blog post today – we offer you a vocabulary to use when looking at ways to prune creatively, then at the end link to places you can buy tools and read more about the work of some of the key players in the pruning world.
We hope this vocabulary is useful though – as you never know when you might need to explain the difference between a wibble and a twmp – it may help sell the idea to a client, or unwilling family member who thinks you should just leave that tree well alone…
A Shape and Clipping Vocabulary
Blobs
Balls
Squares
Cubes
Rectangles
Dice
Domes
Cones
Spirals
Crenellation – a space between two merlons in a battlement wall.
Puddings
Multi-stem
Standards
Spheres
Buttresses
Windows
Arches
Wedding Cake
Boxes
Parasol
Goblet
Drumstick
Helter Skelters
Teardrops
Kidneys
Clouds
Rockets
Pyramids
Merlons – the upright bit in a castle fort (see crenallation… or google ‘crenels…) An archer may have peered through it to fire arrows.
Carbuncles
Parterre – a more formal topiary arrangement than a bump, say…
Doughnuts
Bumps
Parachutes
Niches
Batter – sloped side on a hedge, where the bottom is wider than the top allowing light to reach the whole height of the hedge.
Eggs
Slabs
Planes
Broccolli
Peacocks
Humps
Lumps
Bells
Bolls
Tunnels
Candles
Tumpties
Mushrooms
Onions
Liberty caps
Nipples
Espalier
Pleached
Niwaki – meaning ‘garden tree’ – Niwaki: Pruning, Training and Shaping Trees the Japanese Way
Pollarded
Stilts
Stooled
Raised
Layed
Coppiced
Hedge – double, triple…
Flailed
Thinned
Animals
Chess Pieces
Top Hats
Russian Dolls
Plinths
Soldiers
Castles
Faces
Organic
Karikomi – one plant repeated in a great mass… for great effect…
Flat
Semi-flat
Poodle
Pompom
Furniture
Nursery & Topiary Specialists
Jake Hobson – sells tools here at Niwaki, and his books are here at Amazon.
Nicky Fraser – graffiti artist using hedges. Brilliant stuff!
Charlotte Molesworth – It’s the shape of things to come.
Architectural Plants – where we first heard the term Niwaki.
Earlstone Box and Topiary – field grown box plants near where we lived in Hampshire.
Langley Boxwood – where we sourced little used Buxus ‘Herrenhausen’, a tiny leaved box…
European Boxwood and Topiary Society – publishers of the wonderful Topiarius magazine and brilliant starting place to learn about all things box. Modern Mint are proud to be members!
Tool Vocabulary
We hope this glossary of terms helps you put into words what you are trying to do when you clip. It is, much like the act of pruning, an organic artifact that is growing all the time as new people take up a pair of shears and begin to shape the plants around them.
We hope that you have a go this year, and can help add another word to the growing vocabulary of the pruner!
Plastic ‘Dalek’ Compost Bin
Plastic ‘dalek’ compost bins. Peppered through the gardens in our country as a free gift from the councils. My guess is they gave out these bins because they wanted people to compost more, saving them money as they would have to take away less garden waste. Thinking to be applauded, right? But is there a design flaw in them and has it put people off making their own compost? The Great Reviews For A ‘Dalek’ Compost Bin Here is the one I mean… The ‘Dalek’ bin. They call it a compost converter online. It is made from recycled plastic, so that …
Why I Started Modern Mint
Why I Started Modern Mint I always loved working outside and especially working with trees. I still get a thrill, even now, when planting them. But it was only in 2014 when I moved from Hampshire to Essex that I began to shape and express the values I thought important enough to garden by – the ‘no chemicals’ rule, the recycling of resources, the increasing of life… My move to garden here in Essex, in the driest part of the UK, became the perfect opportunity to start again and share these ideas with people interested in the spaces and landscapes they live in. Modern Mint. The Place …
A Few Notes On Climate Change
Climate change – mention it and you are guaranteed to make the discussion political. (Which probably isn’t a bad thing, as long as people are not so entrenched in their views they won’t listen to the other side…. and of course, that never happens!) We went seal watching last summer on the estuary in Essex. It was amazing, seeing these wild animals just living on the banks. The man who took the group of us out on his boat spoke about the difference he has seen on the water over the last 30 years. He believes the water level has …