THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Happy New Year from Darren and Chloe at Modern Mint!
Modern Mint will be turning 1 next month and what a busy year it has been…
… we have designed gardens, sown meadows, written nearly 200 blog posts, took part in the Chelsea Fringe, performed a new garden show called ‘What Do You Do With This Space?’ and started an online shop to showcase the best in artisan talent – furniture makers, tool makers, soap makers – we are seeking them out and sharing them with you!
Excited?
Absolutely.
Garden Design
With 5 designs on the go at the moment, and 2 meadows taking shape, we have a busy spring this year. And already the phone has been going for more work! So do get in quick if you need help and ideas with your garden this year.
Here are our major projects currently on the go:
A large garden in Upminster, Essex.
A small, private garden in North London.
A large garden in Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex.
Phase two of a large, private garden in Gidea Park, Essex.
Phase two of a meadow in Gidea Park, Essex.
Phase two of a meadow in Grove Park, London.
Organic Topiary
We also have our new shears coming this weekend, to help us with our Organic Topiary work in 2015 – we have been asked to sculpt a number of hedges and trees to give them a more dynamic look.
If you want to know more about this new form of topiary, check out these blog posts:
Or better yet, send us a message. We’d love to tell you why Organic Topiary has such cutting edge style (hehehe…)
Shop
Our shop is a platform for us to share with you the products we love – products that are sustainably sourced, hand-made, beautifully crafted, and support the idiosyncratic voices of the artisans who make them.
They are products for the home and the garden, and our list of suppliers is growing all the time.
If you know someone who is, shall we say, a little different…? Please tell them about us! We want to hear from them. And you, of course – if you want a particualr product, of a high quality, and you just can’t find it on the High Street – let us know and we will seek it out for you.
See our shop to discover what we have already found in our first 3 months since opening…
Blog
Top 5 posts from 2014:
2) Interview with Rosy Bee – Plants for Bees
3) 9 Ideas for a Cut Flower Business
5) Dan Pearson’s Must-Have Plants
Chelsea Fringe
We are curating a book of manifestos answering the question – why do you cultivate your garden? Each manifesto is no more than 100 words. This is a call for authors and garden enthusiasts to share their ideas with us – come on, 100 words – you have that in you, right?
Find out more here Chelsea Fringe 2015 Modern Mint.
Do follow us on Twitter to find out more – and have a great 2015 everyone – from Darren and Chloe at Modern Mint!
Monty Don British Gardens Episode 4
I hadn’t seen the new Monty Don series ‘Monty Don’s British Gardens’ but I was sent a message one evening to say stick it on – episode 4 especially! On the episode were three gardens I make and clip the topiary in… the photo above is my quizzical boxwood emu… which looks ridiculous out of context of the wider topiary garden it sits in… but hey! Showcases what you can do with boxwood, when given enough time to let it grow! But also on the episode were Waltham Place, one of my favourite gardens and a place I teach topiary …
Topiary Art In Hong Kong, The Henderson
Here are a couple of photos of the topiary work I have been doing in Hong Kong for the Art Garden at the bottom of the brand new skyscraper, The Henderson. The building has been designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and this November 2024 the garden at the base of the structure will be planted up, with lots of topiary originally designed by Gillespies Landscape Architects, grown by Tarzan Nursery in China, and then clipped and refined into shape by…. me. Will update with photos from The Henderson Art Garden when all is completed and the garden is opened, but …
EBTS Boxwood Growers Forum
Through the European Boxwood and Topiary Society I worked with Chris Poole and Sue Mesher, members of the EBTS board, and we set up a Boxwood Growers Forum. This was to discuss how to make sure this wonderful topiary plant stays in the public conscioussness – we know many growers, suppliers and distributors have stopped selling it as the cost of replacing boxwood that has blight, or is nibbled by the boxwood caterpillar, makes it unviable to offer to clients and gardeners. But Boxwood is a phoenix plant, and there are ways to deal with the problems associated with Buxus. …