THE MODERN MINT BLOG
First of all, a long article at Country Life magazine about the Art of Topiary… with a mention for my mentor Charlotte Molesworth, and her topiary garden in Kent.
Read here ‘The Ancient Art Of Topiary’
And in Country Living that chap King Charles (King!) starts work on a climate friendly topiary garden at Sandringham. Love the idea of ripping up a lawn for flowers and shrubs – will be intrigued to see how climate friendly the project works out to be, as they expect to finish it in May, just 4 months down the line.
Most topiaries I make are at their best… well, at leat 4 years after I start them. So you can’t complete a topiary garden in 4 months unless you bring in fully grown pieces, which have a carbon cost.
Have they lacked the courage to plant what basically look like sticks, then watch them grow over the years? And shape as appropriate? I wouldn’t blame them for being too timid to do this…
But I would love to see a topiary garden started from scratch, in order to earn a little more right to call itself cliamate friendly. I look forward to seeing and learning more though… as I may be judging too fast – ha!
Read here about the ‘climate friendly’ Topiary Garden of the King
Finally, Topiarius France has a front cover showing my work on the largest Topiary Garden in the UK. I don’t speak French so haven’t read it, but apparently they attibute the clipping to someone else. Ho-hum.
Some photos can be seen here, and a copy bought if desired.
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 …