THE MODERN MINT BLOG
This video is a Ted Talk by Ron Finley, a guerilla gardener in LA. (For those of you who want to know more about guerilla gardening, try this blog post we wrote last year about Richard Reynolds, London’s own guerilla gardener…!)
A friend sent it to us to watch (we had never heard of Ron Finley before but he is a lovely speaker to watch and listen to) and, in the email our friend sent the link in, he described his favourite part of this video. It was Ron Finley saying this:
“Gardening is the most therapeautic and defiant act you can do. Plus you get strawberries.”
Brilliant yes?
For us, the most important part of his speech is this:
“I’m an artist. Gardening is my graffiti. I grow my art.”
We love this idea, to make your work a piece of art, so that you do it with attention and love. This is a fantastic Ted Talk, with many standout moments… do take ten minutes to watch, enjoy… and make your garden your art.
Why I Wrote The Book Modern Topiary
I have written this book, Modern Topiary, because I wanted a collation of useful information that would give people access to everything they need to know in order to start making topiary. Topiary is an amazing (and niche) line of work to follow – amazing because it offers up opportunities to travel all over the world, making gardens, meeting people… but also, the work is intensely physical, hands-on, yet requires creative thinking in order to solve the puzzle of how to make the shapes you want. This mixture of the craft and the art is what I love the most …
Buxus the Norfolk Terrier In Modern Topiary Book
This is Buxus, our Norfolk Terrier, who I acknowledge in the acknowledgments of the book of Modern Topiary. The book of Modern Topiary can be read, for free, here. There you go. Buxus the dog on ‘doorstep duty’ at a friend’s house in Edinburgh. For those asking what he looked like!
What People Think Of Modern Topiary, The Book
Yesterday I put out the book – Modern Topiary – that I have spent the last six years writing. Download for free a pdf of Modern Topiary here. And what seems amazing to me, is that not only have people actually been reading it, but then responding to it. So below are a number of comments I have been sent from those who read it last night, and this morning…. “Brilliant read, exactly the right amount of info to take in and digest.” Rachel, a gardener “I love your book, the advice is so straightforward and your writing is so …