THE MODERN MINT BLOG
On Monday night I gave a talk to the Hardy Plant Society Middlesex. Below are a few links for further information based on some of the ideas discussed in the talk:
Real Seeds – a fantastic supplier of fruit and vegetable seeds for growers.
Boxwood Caterpillar Advice – from the European Boxwood & Topiary Society. I will also write a little companion piece this winter with more information and some topiary techniques, so watch out for that on this website.
Boxwood Lure & Nematodes – my preferred option for dealing with the caterpillar. Discount code for 10% off is EBTSBOX29GBZ
Henk Gerritsen – a new edition of his book is available! Only (ha!) £51. A brilliant book. He also wrote ‘Dream Plants For The Natural Garden’ with designer Piet Oudolf.
Wool Compost – a peat free compost that brings industry to a part of the UK that ends it. Worth every penny.
The Garden Of Charlotte Molesworth – near Great Dixter and Sissinghurst, it is 34 years in the making and an absolute treasure. She opens for NGS occasionally and runs a holiday let there too. My mentor, a brilliant gardener and artiste!
Rewilding – a fantastic book about bringing top level predators back to the UK.
Lovely group and many thanks for inviting me to visit.
Darren, Modern Mint
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 …