THE MODERN MINT BLOG

Jun10

Organic Topiary

Organic Topiary

A Modern Twist on Traditional Shapes

We are specialists in pruning. So you won’t end up with this…

Smaller Topiary or Not

Wisterias               Hedges            Roses              Parterres         Fruit trees

Vines                Shrubs               Traditional Topiary                Architectural Plants

Please contact us for a chat about how we can help…

Or for more on pruning and organic topiary:

(This book by the pruning king Jake Hobson is currently on offer, so get it now!)

And for those who want to do some DIY topiary, please be careful… really, we mean it. Be careful! And use decent tools… (click on the picture to find prices)

Hedge Shears Featured Image
Japanese Shears

 

Sharpening Stone Featured Image
Sharpening Stone
Jakoti Gallery Image 3
Jakoti Shears
Oct29

The Amelia Project – Episode 88: Didius Julianus

Friends of mine write a sitcom podcast called The Amelia Project (I wrote about this years ago, when they started it….!) December 2024 I had some fun playing the tiny part of Fornio in episode 88 – Didius Julianus. I have not listened to the episode yet, as I am clearly not an actor… and the thought of listening to my dulcet tones for the few minutes I’m in it just… makes me feel ill. But the recording and being in the studio was great fun, the real actors were hilarious and the script is brilliant – not just funny, …

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Oct29

Waltham Place Topiary Workshop 2026

With the European Boxwood and Topiary Society, I run two workshops each year at Waltham Place, one of my favourite gardens. The next topiary workshop there will be on Friday September 4th 2026. Details and how to book yet to be announced, but get in touch with them now to get on the waiting list, as last year we had double the amount of people wanting a place than we had space for. The Waltham Place website is here – topiary workshop 2026. See the teaching page for how else I can help you with the topiary in your garden …

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Aug04

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 …

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