Gardeners’ World star Monty Don says he still stands by his comments about the plant he “hates” after previously sparking backlash at the Chelsea Flower Show
11:55, 01 Apr 2026Updated 12:45, 01 Apr 2026
Monty Don named the plant he ‘hates’ (Image: BBC)
Monty Don once sparked backlash after claiming he “hated” a particular plant – and admits his stance hasn’t changed. The Gardeners’ World host is not a fan of begonias, the flowering plants known for their bright, showy blooms and decorative foliage.
Recalling the moment he revealed his dislike live from the Chelsea Flower Show, he joked about needing “a bodyguard” afterwards.
Speaking on the Dig It podcast, the 70-year-old said: “Live on TV, I heard myself saying, ‘I really hate begonias’. Of course, the producer loved it – every paper [ran it], and I practically needed a bodyguard,” he laughed.
“Then the next day they sent me to interview a begonia [expert], of course they did. I was just grovelling. I had to say, ‘Not your begonias of course, your begonias are lovely’.
“But I’ve been flooded with begonias from people sending me begonias, as you can imagine. And I still have to say, I’m not really converted.”
Orange trailing begonias in a hanging basket
Like this naturally tropical plant, Monty said begonias simply aren’t suited to a British garden. “I don’t like obviously tropical plants in a British setting,” he admitted.
“When it gets really jungly and lured, when you take the flora of Papua New Guinea and transpose it to Serpentine or even Longmeadow – for me, it doesn’t work. I think context is really important.”
Monty sparked backlash in 2016 when he called begonias “repulsively ugly”.
The comment drew criticism from the secretary of the National Begonia Society, Robert Bryce, who told Mail Online: “He is in the minority because begonias are selling in larger numbers than ever. If the British public didn’t like begonias, they would have died out 100 years ago.”
While he remains unconvinced about begonias, Monty had praise for cosmos plants. “Cosmos are really forgiving. I love cosmos and everybody should go with them because, by and large, they’re pretty trouble-free,” he shared with hosts Zoe Ball and Jo Whiley.
Monty sparked backlash with his comment (Image: BBC)
“They are tender, so there’s no point in sowing them direct now unless you live somewhere where there’s no more frost. Where I am, frost can still hit in April, so I’d sow them in a seed tray now – it works fine.”
Though he isn’t a fan of begonias, Monty champions the likes of roses, perennials, herbaceous borders, and pollinator-friendly wildflowers.
Meanwhile, the gardener also recently shared the top jobs to complete in your outdoor space this April and one of them is to grow “one of the easiest of all plants”.
According to the gardening experts at Bonnie Plants, lettuce “matures fast,” sometimes in as little as six weeks.
Sharing his take in his monthly gardening blog, Monty noted that most lettuces take about “six to eight weeks to grow sufficiently large to eat” and can remain harvestable for another month or so, if kept well-watered and in cool conditions.
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