THE MODERN MINT BLOG
We hope to inspire you with these must-read books for wildlife gardening – make time for them, and enjoy!
1) Start simply with Chris Baines…
2) Enjoy the sharp wit of Henk Gerritsen…
Henk Gerritsen: Essay on Gardening
3) We have always been a fan of botanist Ken Thompson…
No Nettles Required: The Reassuring Truth About Wildlife Gardening
4) The lovely writing style of Val Bourne (along with her excellent knowledge) will inspire you…
The Natural Gardener: The Way We All Want to Garden
5) We read this from Pam Lewis in one sitting…
Sticky Wicket: Gardening in Tune with Nature
6) We don’t know this one yet , but we keep hearing the name of Keith Wiley and it all seems to be good…
On the Wild Side: Experiments in New Naturalism
We hope you enjoy these suggestions of books for wildlife friendly gardening! To find more, search Amazon from here…
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 …
Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue
With Chris Poole of the European Boxwood and Topiary Society we visited Clipsham Yew Tree Avenue in Rutland. Do you know it? Amazing place! Chris and I were teaching a topiary workshop in order to give local people the skills and technique, and tenacity! to help with the pruning of the avenue and elevate it to something even more special than it already is. Read more about the workshops here. We hope to run a further workshop in September 2026, as well as teach an advanced course too. Check the teaching page through the year as it will be updated …