THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Now we get to the heart of Dan Pearson’s plant recommendations… and he offers far more perennials than another designer we have written of…
(Do also check out this review of his excellent book ‘Spirit’.)
Perennials
Acanthus mollis latifolius group ‘Rue Ledan’
Actaea cordifolia
Anemone x Hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’
Angelica edulis
Aralia cordata
Baptisia Alba var. Macrophylla
Brunnera macrophylla ‘Betty Bowring’
Bupleurum longifolium ‘Bronze Beauty’
Cephalaria dipsacoides
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Dierama pulcherrimum ‘Blackbird’
Digitalis ferruginea
Disporum longistylum ‘Night Heron’
Epimedium wushanense ‘caramel’
Erigeron karvinskianus
Eryngium agavifolium
Eryngium ebracteatum
Ferula tingitana ‘Cedric Morris’
Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’
Gaura lindheimeri
Geranium ‘Tiny Monster’
Gillenia trifoliata
Glycyrrhiza yunnanensis
Helleborus x Hybridus Ashwood Hybrids
Hemerocallis ‘Stafford’
Inula magnifica ‘Sonnenstrahl’
Iris lazica
Lathyrus vernus ‘Gracilis’
Molopospermum peloponnesiacum
Paeonia lactiflora ‘White Wings’
Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Alba’
Persicaria virginiana var. filiformis
Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Herbstsonne’
Salvia nemerosa ‘Caradonna’
Salvia uliginosa ‘Ballon Azul’
Sanguisorba ‘Cangshan Cranberry’
Sedum ‘Jose Aubergine’
Selinum wallichianum
Thalictrum ‘Elin’
Verbena macdougalii ‘Lavender Spires’ (this plant is difficult to find, at least at the time of writing. Not the same but easier to find is a plant we also wrote about here Verbena bonariensis…)
Recommended Reading:
The Well-tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques
Topiary Workshop 2026 at Waltham Place
The next topiary workshop I will be teaching is now live on the website and can be booked! Just visit Waltham Place to get a ticket for the Topiary Workshop I will be teaching on Friday September 4th at Waltham Place. Myself and Chris Poole of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society (Buxus expert! Like, he knows everything there is to know about the plant! So worth booking just to tap into his knowledge….!) will be teaching here for the… fifth year in a row I think? The garden is a beautiful place to spend time clipping. We will teach …
Michael Gibson, New York Topiary Art!
In the New York Times earlier this year was a lovely interview with Michael Gibson, who makes topiary and gardens in New York. The article is here but you may not have access… however, search the internet, find it and have a read. It is great! His philosophy of pruning is especially worth it… Sacred geometry in topiary? Yes please! What a phrase! I think (and speak) of balance, of major and minor, of leaf volume… but sacred geometry might well make it into my topiary teaching lexicon! And the idea of directional trimming? I realise I do this, but …
Topiary Library
I do a lot of teaching topiary. I had the opportunity from my mentor, Charlotte Molesworth, to work on her garden and experiment and test techniques and generally try making shapes without the worry of failure, or being fired, or being sued and run out of business for getting it wrong. This opportunity was essential (along with Charlotte’s insistance that pruning standards had to be high!) in becoming better at topiary. When I look around the world at our cultural vitamins, what we see in the media day in and day out, I see the stupidest and grossest of people …