THE MODERN MINT BLOG
The Whispered Launch
The problem with whispering is not that you won’t be heard. The problem is what the listener might hear.
If you have heard about Modern Mint – that we are a design and landscape company working in Essex and London – then you have heard right.
If you have heard we learnt our trade working on large estates in Hampshire and Berkshire, before closing down and moving to live in East Anglia, bringing our brand of vibrant, modern gardens with us… then you have heard right again.
But if you heard we make gardens that are lacklustre, boring and hard to maintain…you’ve been misled. The listener misheard the whisper.
This is our whispered launch then… Modern Mint has arrived in East Anglia, and we want to make great gardens.
Did you hear that right?
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….! …
ClipFest 2025
On Sunday June 22nd there will be Clipfest 2025 at Ichi-Coo Park in Surrey. It is a celebration of all things pruning and topiary, and I will be there in my capacity of teacher at the European Boxwood and Topiary Society to demonstrate tool cleaning and sharpening, and how to clip. Tickets can be found here on Eventbrite. We are hoping for great weather and to see lots of keen pruners getting their shears out and joining us at this amazing garden! And for more on topiary…
Secateur Holders
A present arrived from Norway today, from a student who visited last February to work with Chris Poole and I on learning topiary. His new hobby – a beautiful and neatly stitched secateur holder. Thrilled with this! The holder will save me keep losing my secatuers too…! Thank you Bernt! It was the same student who introduced me to the APA with whom I am doing a talk at the end of March. Tickets can be bought here for ‘Defining The Essence – Aesthetic Pruning in the Garden’. Do join the European Boxwood and Topiary Society for that!