THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Our Desert Island Plant
For the Chelsea Fringe 2016 Modern Mint are asking you a simple question:
What is your Desert Island Plant?
We know, we know – it is a tough question to answer! Out of all the plants out there, all the wonderful flowers you could choose – which could you not live without?
See what other people have chosen.
We thought long and hard about our choice. A few of the also-rans were:
Wild primrose. The ‘first rose’ of the year, a simple flower with a beautiful soft colour. Looks as great en-masse as it does when you peer closely at just a single specimen. Love it!
Peony ‘Sarah Bernhardt’. Got to know this well when we grew cut flowers for florists, it look like a giant apple blossom and makes an incredible display in the garden or in the vase. The fragrance is to die for too.
Stipa gigantea. Anything with ‘gigantic’ in its name is going to be exciting, and this plant offers the most wonderful flower heads on long thin stems. Easy to grow, it can stand above shorter flowers in a border but never crowd them out or steal all the light. Reflects the sunshine from its beautiful flower.
Tell Us Your Desert Island Plant!
But the plant we have chosen, as our desert island plant, has got to be….
Buxus sempervirens. Green, used in just about every garden, it is our desert island plant because of the way it can be clipped. Grabbing a pair of shears and spending time cutting buxus into formal, tight shapes is a lovely way to spend a morning.
Even better is to cut it into something a little less formal!
It took a lot of thinking about, but there you have it – our Desert Island Plant would be the beautiful and useful Buxus sempervirens. But we are interested in you –
Start of the Whitby Topiary Library
I have been offered a space here in the centre of Whitby, south-facing aspect, with some raised beds in, so that I can make a Topiary Library. In my head, a topiary library is a place to showcase the common (and then not so common) shapes you can make out of topiary. With classical topiary plants, as well as some more unusual pieces. This Topiary Library can act as a reference for people to learn more about pruning and clipping. The space is small but the aspect is great and the beds are deep enough to put some plants in. …
Delivery After Dark – From the Makers of The Amelia Project
Last week I spent most nights stood in cold water streams on the moors of North Yorkshire, helping to film a new project called Delivery After Dark from the makers of the Amelia Project. I worked on the Amelia Project back at the end of 2024, lending my terrible vocal talents to a small part in the episode Didius Julianus. But this project is something new – and exciting! – and thankfully only needed me to be filmed, rather than to actually say anything. But not only did I have to stand in cold moving water at midnight, I also …
Modern Topiary (The Book) – Message From Lady Clippers, And Others!
My topiary book – Modern Topiary – has recently been put out as a PDF, which can be read for free. (Have a look here to download and read/share it!) Then last week I received a lovely email from Ann Perkowski of Lady Clippers, who are topiary and pruning specialists in New York (Ann is a brilliant pruning teacher too, who teaches at New York Botanical Garden… check out her work and Lady Clippers website.) Hi Darren, I had to write you how much I love reading your Modern Topiary. I’m not sure I’ll ever be quite done with it because I’m …