THE MODERN MINT BLOG
Talking Grass
Talking Grass is a blog by writer Sara Gregson. We recommend you take a look as it pulls together the many functions grass plays in our lives – from providing food for the animals we eat, to providing the surface we kick a ball on – making us stop and think about something we so often take for granted. We like that kind of writing…
Her post ‘Lawns are Far from Pointless’ has several highlights, including telling us about the Salisbury Lawns, five and a half acres of lawn at Chatsworth house that is full of wild flowers. Delightful! Could we all have a lawn like that please…?
Or if you have the time, why not check out the Cricklade North Meadow? It is an undisturbed hay meadow near Swindon, a registered Site of Special Scientific Interest and filled with Fritillaria meleagris. We hope it inspires you as much as us!
And if you want a book about traditional lawncare (though we aren’t sure why you would…)
But this book… well, now you’re talking…
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 …
The Henderson, Topiary Art Interview on Instagram
In a suit… eek! View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Henderson (@thehenderson_hk)
Topiary, The Art Garden at The Henderson
The Art Garden at The Henderson in Hong-Kong has now opened to the public. I joined the project last March, to work with Gillespies Landscape Architects on the topiary that had been designed for the Art Garden, which gives a calm, green space below the extraordinary Henderson skyscraper designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The garden has been designed with butterflies in mind, so lots of nectar plants, and has other art projects and installations within its footprint. The history of the site is interesting too – it was originally the first cricket ground in Hong-Kong! So still a green space….! …