Gardening icon Monty Don has been presenting BBC’s Gardeners’ World for more than 20 years and has shared his thoughts on the “most stupid thing” to say about a garden
Robin Cottle Assistant Editor Trendswatch
09:38, 10 Nov 2025
Monty Don revealed the “most stupid thing anyone can ever say about a garden”(Image: Getty Images)
Gardening legend Monty Don has disclosed what he considers to be “the most stupid thing anyone can ever say about a garden”.
The 70 year old has served as the principal presenter of Gardeners’ World since succeeding the iconic Alan Titchmarsh in 2003, with only a brief hiatus between 2008 and 2011 due to health issues.
The specialist possesses extensive knowledge about creating exceptional gardens and takes immense satisfaction in his personal sanctuary Longmeadow, which he tends alongside his wife Sarah.
However, speaking on the BBC Gardeners’ World podcast, he highlighted that the greatest error enthusiastic British gardeners can commit is believing a garden is “finished”.
He explained: “The thing I love about gardens is they don’t stay the same, ever. The most stupid thing anyone can ever say about a garden is ‘oh we’ve finished it,’ or ‘it’s done,'” reports the Mirror.
“Because, a) it’s not true and b) it means you don’t begin to understand what a garden is. It’s like saying a river is finished, or a cloud has finished.
Monty reckons a garden is never finished (Image: PA)
“It’s a completely moveable, fluid, variable, changeable thing, so Longmeadow is great today and I hope it’s great tomorrow.”
Longmeadow represents Monty’s treasured achievement.
He and his wife Sarah began developing the garden following their relocation to their residence in Ivington, Herefordshire, in 1991.
The plot consisted of uncultivated grassland, weeds, and thorny shrubs when he purchased the property, which he has subsequently converted into his renowned two-acre paradise.
He declines to claim sole responsibility for the remarkable garden as he maintains “Sarah and I have always gardened together”. Speaking to the podcast, Monty said: “Longmeadow is not my garden, Longmeadow is our garden and she and I did it together.
“By and large I do design and structure, and most of the physical planting, and she is much better at detail than me and colour and I’ve learned colour from her.
“She has perfect pitch when it comes to colour, which is quite a rare thing. The other thing that is really annoying. I remember doing this, I planted a hedge.
“She was out and came back and I said: ‘I’ve planted this hedge, what do you think. She’ll go: ‘It needs to be moved one foot that way.’ And she was right.
Monty Don(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
“So I dug the whole hedge up and planted it one foot that way. That sort of rigour is good. You need someone to give you a kicking every now and then.”
Despite his lengthy association with Gardeners’ World, Monty confesses he wasn’t always a viewer of the programme.
The television personality revealed he didn’t tune into the show during his twenties, nor did he purchase Gardeners’ World Magazine or hold membership with the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society).
He continued: “The two things I did do were I visited gardens obsessively. All kinds of gardens from the most conventional to the most extreme, and I’d recommend that to anyone.
“And I looked for people who were slightly on the edge of gardening.”
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