THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Guanock House needs a trainee topiary artist!
Some of you may know it as the first home and garden of designer Arne Maynard, but is now owned and maintained by Michael Coleman and his wife Michelle. They offer meditation workshops and retreats there and it is as beautiful a house and garden as you could wish to visit.
They called me in last Autumn to help shape up some of the topiary as it was all getting out of hand, but what it really needs is someone with a steady hand and lots of patience to take over the clipping in the summer.
Guanock House Trainee Needed
Michael is looking for a local person who is diligent, is able to tackle the strenuous nature of the work and has an aesthetic sense for shaping plants that will be in tune with the garden.
The work is on a project by project basis to begin with, possibly moving to something more regular in the future.
Pay in line with experience. Training will be given as well, possibly by myself to make sure you have all the know-how you need.
What I will stress is that the work is great fun (as tough as it can be physically) and that this is a fantastic opportunity to make a start in your gardening and pruning career. There is a variety of plants to turn your hand too and get experience working with, as well as a mix of formal and organic shapes.
It is a perfect first job for an aspiring topiary artist!
Please do visit the Guanock House website and let Michael know you are interested, and to find out more –
Contact Guanock House here.
Or view my topiary work.
Why I Wrote The Book Modern Topiary
I have written this book, Modern Topiary, because I wanted a collation of useful information that would give people access to everything they need to know in order to start making topiary. Topiary is an amazing (and niche) line of work to follow – amazing because it offers up opportunities to travel all over the world, making gardens, meeting people… but also, the work is intensely physical, hands-on, yet requires creative thinking in order to solve the puzzle of how to make the shapes you want. This mixture of the craft and the art is what I love the most …
Buxus the Norfolk Terrier In Modern Topiary Book
This is Buxus, our Norfolk Terrier, who I acknowledge in the acknowledgments of the book of Modern Topiary. The book of Modern Topiary can be read, for free, here. There you go. Buxus the dog on ‘doorstep duty’ at a friend’s house in Edinburgh. For those asking what he looked like!
What People Think Of Modern Topiary, The Book
Yesterday I put out the book – Modern Topiary – that I have spent the last six years writing. Download for free a pdf of Modern Topiary here. And what seems amazing to me, is that not only have people actually been reading it, but then responding to it. So below are a number of comments I have been sent from those who read it last night, and this morning…. “Brilliant read, exactly the right amount of info to take in and digest.” Rachel, a gardener “I love your book, the advice is so straightforward and your writing is so …