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…
Topiary Provocation Autumn 2021
This Autumn I have presented another ‘Topiary Provocation’ to keen gardeners and designers. If you want to know more about topiary, the report on what we discussed and where modern topiary is going can be read by clicking the link below: Topiary Provocation Report Autumn 2021 This report is free to post on your own website or blog, just credit Modern Mint, and don’t change anything within it. Alternatively you can just share it with keen friends… or enemies?
New Topiary In South London Out Of Yew
Making a new topiary out of the large, dull facade of a Taxus blob… My work was to change it up from a ‘jelly drop’ shape and give it texture, open it out and let the light through, and make it a sculptural feature in the background of the garden in summer… yet a major part of the garden in winter. A few more years before it becomes something special, but there was far more leaf and growth inside the plant than I thought and so it will not take too long for it to gain in character and become …
Topiary Teacher – Put on The Spot!
Two weeks ago I was invited to teach topiary at the garden of Griselda Kerr, the author of The Apprehensive Gardener. I love teaching and sharing skills, but I was placed on the spot in the afternoon and asked to show how I would make a new topiary from an existing shrub. So below is a speeded-up video of me creating a cloud-pruned topiary from an old boxwood tree. I particularly love the ending when the class get involved….! See the video here. One hour was all it took, and though it needed a little tidying-up, it was made by …