THE MODERN MINT BLOG

Jun30

Planting Trees In The UK

This June, we have been talking about planting trees in the UK.

Update March 2020: We now have a Grove Of Trees You Can Add To – Visit Here To Plant a Tree

Why Plant Trees In The UK?

Our recent Chelsea Fringe project was about using your garden to capture carbon.

One way of doing that was to plant trees. Trees take carbon from the air and turn in into…. themselves. Trees and woodlands are not actually the largest stores of carbon on the planet – that accolade goes to our oceans, followed up by our soils – but planting trees are a great way to capture some CO2 and keep it locked up, so that it does not contribute to warming our climate to a ridiculous (that means inhospitable) level.

We decided that in June, for every sale we had online we would plant trees here in the UK. It helps our landscape become a place full of woodlands, encouraging birds and bees and other insects to find home, improve their food chain and generally make the UK a more beautiful place to live.

Who wants to live in a denuded, harsh landscape?

Not us.

How To Plant A Tree In The UK

We don’t currently have the space here at Modern Mint to plant a tree for every sale from our online shop, but there are places who can make it happen for you – and they are fantastic organisations to support.

The first, and the one we will be using for this tree planting project, is Village Farm.

We love Village Farm and what they are doing. We have written about them before and they were an inspiration for our capture carbon project. Do check them out.

The other place we suggest you look at is the Trees For Life project, who are restoring the Caledonian Forest and rewilding the landscape in the Scottish Highlands. It is quite something.

So far we will be planting 15 trees here in the UK, from sales online in June.

If you want to make that number bigger, either go visit our shop and make an order – it can be the cheapest thing, it really does not matter. We will still plant a tree. Or visit either Village Farm or the Trees for Life project and ‘start a grove’ of your own.

Planting trees in the UK is a great thing to do. Go make it happen – for Queen, for country… and for your future, most importantly!

 

Jan28

Monty Don British Gardens Episode 4

I hadn’t seen the new Monty Don series ‘Monty Don’s British Gardens’ but I was sent a message one evening to say stick it on – episode 4 especially! On the episode were three gardens I make and clip the topiary in… the photo above is my quizzical boxwood emu… which looks ridiculous out of context of the wider topiary garden it sits in… but hey! Showcases what you can do with boxwood, when given enough time to let it grow! But also on the episode were Waltham Place, one of my favourite gardens and a place I teach topiary …

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Nov01

Topiary Art In Hong Kong, The Henderson

Here are a couple of photos of the topiary work I have been doing in Hong Kong for the Art Garden at the bottom of the brand new skyscraper, The Henderson. The building has been designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and this November 2024 the garden at the base of the structure will be planted up, with lots of topiary originally designed by Gillespies Landscape Architects, grown by Tarzan Nursery in China, and then clipped and refined into shape by…. me. Will update with photos from The Henderson Art Garden when all is completed and the garden is opened, but …

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Apr16

EBTS Boxwood Growers Forum

Through the European Boxwood and Topiary Society I worked with Chris Poole and Sue Mesher, members of the EBTS board, and we set up a Boxwood Growers Forum. This was to discuss how to make sure this wonderful topiary plant stays in the public conscioussness – we know many growers, suppliers and distributors have stopped selling it as the cost of replacing boxwood that has blight, or is nibbled by the boxwood caterpillar, makes it unviable to offer to clients and gardeners. But Boxwood is a phoenix plant, and there are ways to deal with the problems associated with Buxus. …

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