THE MODERN MINT BLOG
UPDATE: I STILL TEACH TOPIARY COMPOSITION, BUT AM GOING TO MAKE A VIDEO OF THE CLASS TO ALLOW MORE PEOPLE TO VIEW IT – FOR MORE INFORMATION CHECK OUT THE TEACHING PAGE!
Topiary Composition and design is a major part of my work – which is why I have created an online seminar for keen gardeners and creatives to learn how to compose a piece of topiary.
There are several dates available so please head here to buy a ticket.
The seminar lasts two hours (including q and a) and will explore the process needed to look at a shrub or hedge and work out what you can design from it.
These principles have been learnt the hard way – through mentoring, experimenting and years of practise.
Hopefully, it will help you shortcut any mistake and get you to a wonderful piece of topiary in no time – and not be too back-breaking to maintain!
Do join me for my topiary composition seminar.
I have been a topiary artist for a long time – you can see my work here in the Artisan Series in the Guardian newspaper or some of my basic work on the website here.
I also teach topiary and pruning at many places including the European Boxwood and Topiary Society and The English Gardening School.
Most topiary I am asked to make is either quite dull, or based on historical shapes that are fiddly and difficult to maintain. I want, through this topiary seminar, to give you the skills to update your hedges and shrubs to a modern way of gardening – easy to maintain, light, full of life and possibly even a ggod home for birds, or a provider of nectar filled flowers for bees.
This means choosing the right plants, giving them time to grow and evolve, and placing the right plants around it to show it off.
Often with topiary less can be more, so you will (if you join the seminar) be given real world examples and the htought process of how I made it – and why.
I want you to go away inspired, with a better understanding of what makes a good topiary and how it fits into a modern garden.
Join me if you are a gardener or a creative person on one of the days here, online, for a topiary composition seminar!
Or check out my topiary work here.
The Amelia Project – Episode 88: Didius Julianus
Friends of mine write a sitcom podcast called The Amelia Project (I wrote about this years ago, when they started it….!) December 2024 I had some fun playing the tiny part of Fornio in episode 88 – Didius Julianus. I have not listened to the episode yet, as I am clearly not an actor… and the thought of listening to my dulcet tones for the few minutes I’m in it just… makes me feel ill. But the recording and being in the studio was great fun, the real actors were hilarious and the script is brilliant – not just funny, …
Waltham Place Topiary Workshop 2026
With the European Boxwood and Topiary Society, I run two workshops each year at Waltham Place, one of my favourite gardens. The next topiary workshop there will be on Friday September 4th 2026. Details and how to book yet to be announced, but get in touch with them now to get on the waiting list, as last year we had double the amount of people wanting a place than we had space for. The Waltham Place website is here – topiary workshop 2026. See the teaching page for how else I can help you with the topiary in your garden …
Box Hill – Novella by Adam Mars-Jones
I picked this book up back in 2020 because of the title – Box Hill – fabulous, I thought, a book about boxwood. I’ll peruse this for its respective thoughts on the plant I clip most when I make topiary. I didn’t read the blurb on the back. Didn’t know the author (although I knew the publisher, Fitzcarraldo Editions, as I love many of the essays they have published… so trusted the author would be worth spending time with.) By page 2 I realised this novel wasn’t quite what I had expected. I started the book at 10pm, after getting …