THE MODERN MINT BLOG
The Confidence to Fail
Gardening teaches you to have the confidence to fail.
The cyclical nature of the four seasons forces you to be this way. One year goes badly, but no matter, next year you come back and try again.
It is a valuable lesson to learn for so many areas of life – how to make money, how to enjoy relationships, how to be better at your job – start it, don’t judge or demean your efforts halfway through, reflect at the end how it has gone… then get ready to start again.
The confidence to fail, again and again and again. An attitude worth cultivating as well as you cultivate your veg patch.
Recommended Reading:
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….! …