THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Flower Show, Oxford
This weekend, August 22nd-24th, you can visit Flowers at Oxford. It is hosted by Lady Margaret Hall, a beautiful Oxford college, and is being used as a showcase for the best in floral design.
We heard about it through Flowers from the Farm, who will be there promoting British flowers over the weekend. We support Flowers from the Farm because they “want to see a new generation of florists inspired by seasonal, local, sustainable British flowers.”
As a former flower grower ourselves, we recognise how great it is to get fresh blooms from your own garden. We try very hard to get our clients to grow their own flowers too.
Don’t be shy, head over to Flowers at Oxford this weekend, watch the demonstrations, see (and smell) the difference between British grown cut flowers and those imported from the equator, fall in love with the vast range of colours and textures seasonal flowers can provide – and spread the word!
Where better to spend a weekend smelling the flowers than Oxford?
(For more on growing your own flowers, try Sarah Raven – there is lots of information here!)
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 …
The Henderson, Topiary Art Interview on Instagram
In a suit… eek! View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Henderson (@thehenderson_hk)
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….! …