THE MODERN MINT BLOG
The Silence of Plants
The Silence of Plants By Wislawa Szymborska (Translated by Joanna Trzeciak) A one-sided relationship is developing quite well between you …
James Van Sweden (Part 2)
“No-one had ever seen anything like it. We were using perennials in a kind of meadow-like way, that was very different from anything anybody else was doing.“ James Van Sweden This is the style James Van Sweden, working with Wolfgang Oehme, created – known as the New American Garden. (For more about them, you can read part one here.) Starting by removing lawns from clients gardens, they then began planting masses (and masses and masses and masses) of perennials. “Wolfgang would take off his glasses, or not consider the scale of the drawing, and I’d say… Wolfgang that’s 5000 Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’… GOOD! He’d …
James Van Sweden
This video is of Monty Don talking to the late garden designer James Van Sweden. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpn08JoNFFQ He was known, in partnership with Wolfgang Oehme, to have created the ‘New American Garden’ style – think tall grasses, great swathes of perennials and a wilder, more natural look. Pretty much the opposite of how we think of American gardens, with their tightly mowed lawns that are weedkilled, fed and watered all summer long. “Don’t put in three, put in 300… you have to think big. Think huge leaves, enormous grasses and flowers big as dinner plates. The worst thing you can do is …
Dr Seuss & Amalia Robredo
Amalia Robredo took part in our Chelsea Fringe project at the start of June. Now here is an update, from Uruguay, of her landscape… Those in the Southern Hemisphere are now in Autumn and heading for Winter. Yet looking at the photo the scene looks warm and inviting. As does the sea… Looking back over the photos from earlier in June, things don’t appear to have changed. Apart from the Cereus uruguayanus losing its fruits to the birds. Yet, almost imperceptibly, the scene now has a more bleached, paler look. Even the light seems to be changing. Yes… looking closely, things …