THE MODERN MINT BLOG

Mar04

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Welcome to Modern Mint, for home and garden.

We never intended to be a shop. We started as a garden design firm, helping people who felt overwhelmed by their garden learn, season by season, how to make it a beautiful place.

To promote good garden practise we began adding articles to the Modern Mint website. There are now 100’s to explore ranging from environmental issues, to practical techniques for growing flowers, to discussing why we sell a particular item at Modern Mint.

To help you explore it we have provided this Start Here page. Just scroll down to find what interests you the most!

Start here for some free stuff – an e-book we curated for the Chelsea Fringe Festival…

Download ‘Contemporary Green’, a free e-book from Modern Mint

Start here to read some of our most popular garden interviews and essays:

Manifesto for the Modern Gardener

9 Ideas for a Cut Flower Business

Unusual Vegetable Garden

The Alternative Guide To What To Do In The Garden This Month

Native Trees

Plants for Bees

The Charity We Support – Pets as Therapy

Start here for our top products:

Japanese Secateurs

Vegetable Brush

Copper Tools for Organic Slug Prevention

Finnish Deckchairs

Paper Potter for Seedlings

Start here to find out where to meet us, or how you to book a talk for your group:

Need a Speaker?

Modern Mint Diary

Start here to make sure you stay in touch. We send out news once a month (twice at Christmas) and never sell your email to anyone. It is the best way to be informed about how Modern Mint can help you, and let you know about the unusual home and garden products we have to offer.

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Thank you from all of us at Modern Mint!

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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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