THE MODERN MINT BLOG

Nov14

Roses for Hips

Just a quick note to share these choices of roses for their hips, from the RHS magazine. The rose choices were…

Rosa rugosa ‘Alba’ – yes, lovely. choice

Rosa filipes ‘Kiftsgate’ (not sure who has the space to grow this one!)

Rosa ‘Francis E Lester’

Rosa ‘Generous Gardener’ (though the article noted if you leave the hips on you will get fewer flowers later in the season)

Rosa ‘Morning Mist’

Rosa ‘Cupid’

Rosa sericea subspecies omeiensis f. pteracantha (not just a mouthful of a name, but the hips drop off quickly too, within a few weeks)

Rosa ‘Geranium’

Rosa californica

Rosa rubiginosa (sweet briar! Crush those leaves for the scent!)

Rosa virginiana

Rosa ‘Shropshire Lass’

Many of these roses are species roses, because they have a need to set seed, in order to live on and prosper!

Uses of Rosehips

Loved this part of the article, as we have a special interest in skincare and the use of plants for helping the body stay healthy.

Hips were used for:

Itching powder

An excellent source of Vitamin C

The pulp for jams and juices

As a tea – recommended to alleviate headaches, cramps, dizziness and osteoarthritis.

It is also said to improve your mood, your energy levels and the quality of your sleep.

Those hips don’t lie, huh?


For more on roses, take a look at a blog about our visit to David Austin Roses.

 

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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Apr15

Modern Topiarist @ Garden Masterclass Poland

My video on Modern Topiary for Garden Masterclass has been translated into Polish, for the keen gardeners (and happy pruners!) of Garedn Masterclass in Poland. Tickets for the first showing and q and a were available here. But it will become available on the Garden Masterclass Poland website at some point in the near future – so if you are a keen clipper and want to know more, but speak Polish and not English, then I suggest you visit the website and get watching. (Of course, if you don’t speak English, you may not be able to read this…. hmmm… …

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Apr15

Topiary Hotline

The European Boxwood & Topiary Society are to run a Topiary Hotline for keen gardeners and people who love to clip. Date is tomorrow, April 16th 2024, and you can get a ticket for the Zoom meeting here – Topiary Hotline. Run by Chris Poole and myself, we set this up as an antidote to the huge amount of questions we have to answer about topiary throughout the summer. The plus is that their is an excitement around topiary and pruning. The problem is we need to help people in a better way… … so we will be giving people …

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