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!
Topiary Workshop 2026 at Waltham Place
The next topiary workshop I will be teaching is now live on the website and can be booked! Just visit Waltham Place to get a ticket for the Topiary Workshop I will be teaching on Friday September 4th at Waltham Place. Myself and Chris Poole of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society (Buxus expert! Like, he knows everything there is to know about the plant! So worth booking just to tap into his knowledge….!) will be teaching here for the… fifth year in a row I think? The garden is a beautiful place to spend time clipping. We will teach …
Michael Gibson, New York Topiary Art!
In the New York Times earlier this year was a lovely interview with Michael Gibson, who makes topiary and gardens in New York. The article is here but you may not have access… however, search the internet, find it and have a read. It is great! His philosophy of pruning is especially worth it… Sacred geometry in topiary? Yes please! What a phrase! I think (and speak) of balance, of major and minor, of leaf volume… but sacred geometry might well make it into my topiary teaching lexicon! And the idea of directional trimming? I realise I do this, but …
Topiary Library
I do a lot of teaching topiary. I had the opportunity from my mentor, Charlotte Molesworth, to work on her garden and experiment and test techniques and generally try making shapes without the worry of failure, or being fired, or being sued and run out of business for getting it wrong. This opportunity was essential (along with Charlotte’s insistance that pruning standards had to be high!) in becoming better at topiary. When I look around the world at our cultural vitamins, what we see in the media day in and day out, I see the stupidest and grossest of people …