THE MODERN MINT BLOG
The Design Process
A typical design process will go like this:
Job Specification – we will meet with all the users of the garden on-site and find out what you want, what you need and what potential scope your garden project has.
This is the most important part as it sets out clearly what a succesful project will feel like, and gets us in sync with you right from the start.
Survey – the structural basis of the design work.
Outline Design – initial concepts and ideas are presented, allowing for further discussion and development with you.
Final Design – Detailed plans and specifications are finalised in order to begin the work of constructing and planting your garden.
Construction and Project Management – our craftspeople will come in and make the design happen.
After Care – we will make sure you have all the advice and guidance in place to help your garden grow. We also hope that through the process of designing the garden you will end up a wiser, better informed and more involved garden owner. Now that makes it worthwhile for us!
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….! …