Monty Don on his Gardeners' World future and how climate change has impacted British gardening

Despite the challenges of narrowing down locations to feature, Monty and his team have unearthed stories that celebrate the universal language of gardening.

We’re used to seeing you explore gardens around the globe — why British gardens now?

I’ve been travelling the world visiting gardens since Around the World in 80 Gardens in 2008. While Gardeners’ World is essentially practical, sharing the experience of how to garden, the travel programmes are more of a cultural thing: why are people gardening here, what does it mean to them? We suddenly thought, why don’t we look at our own back yard with the same kind of cultural, anthropological eye?

What was the strangest garden you visited?

Lamport Hall and Gardens in Northamptonshire. In the 19th century, the owner imported the first garden gnome from Germany. He built a rock garden and populated it with gnomes, absolutely believing they were alive. He spent years looking after his gnome family. And if that wasn’t eccentric enough, his children, whom he hadn’t taken much notice of and were jealous of the gnomes, had a big party, gave everybody guns and they shot all the gnomes! Except for one that was knocked by the bullets into a crevice and found years later. This surviving gnome is insured for £1 million.

Was it difficult for you and your team of researchers to make a shortlist of gardens?

We have researchers, but let’s get real about modern television: budgets are tight and most of the work is done by the producer and me. We do have help – and it’s very valuable – but it’s not nearly as much as we’d like and, in the end, the producer and I make all the decisions. It was extremely difficult to choose which gardens to feature, but we knew from the outset that we didn’t want to visit obvious places like Sissinghurst Castle Garden and Great Dixter.

What did the series tell you about Great Britain as a nation?

You can have a scrap of garden at the back of your house, and you can talk to someone who has acres, and we all talk the same language, share the same love. It’s also an opportunity for expression. We are a very class-ridden, inhibited, overcrowded country and yet when we get in the garden, we’re free to do what we want on our patch of land. You can have great tough men taking great pride in growing delicate flowers. We take our climate for granted, but there’s nowhere in the world that has a better climate for gardening.

In the series you talk to pupils at a Scottish school about vegetables they’re growing. Should gardening be on the curriculum?

We should definitely encourage children to garden. With children aged four to ten, you’re pushing at a very open door. In my experience – I’ve had children that age and now have grandchildren that age – they love sowing radishes and then pulling them up six weeks later. More and more schools do have gardens, and they should be encouraged and financed to do so.

When I was in my 20s, I didn’t know anyone else, other than my wife, who gardened. Now it’s more popular. I think it’s all connected to the [Gen Z] link to the natural world, which is more precarious so needs to be looked after. Climate change is a huge worry for that generation, as it should be.

How has climate change altered British gardening?

In practical terms, it means we’re having to deal with very extreme situations. I could easily give you a list of plants for very wet or very dry conditions, but there would be hardly any overlap, whereas now our gardens are becoming both very wet at times and very dry. It’s new territory.

Did you feel privileged to visit Birkhall, King Charles’s private estate in Scotland?

Of course, but the truth is that I feel privileged to have access to anybody’s private garden, and Birkhall, in some ways, is no different. Obviously, that’s slightly disingenuous because you’re very aware that it’s not something many people get the chance to do. Certainly, the King is a genuinely serious, keen and good gardener.

I also know the Queen loves gardening. She’s been to my garden. Both of them have a real personal interest. I know the King enjoys working in the arboretum on the Birkhall estate and prunes the trees himself.

You’ve presented Gardeners’ World since 2003. Do you plan to continue?

I never make plans beyond two years, but I’ve agreed to do another two [from January 2025]. Every time I think, “Am I really going to do this?” But the truth is that I do enjoy it. I’m lucky because it’s in my own garden. If the programme is made well, I’ll continue.

You recently toured the UK with An Audience with Monty Don…

It was great. I did the final night yesterday in Edinburgh, and the magnificent Scottish countryside is looking its wintry best.

You had to cancel several dates after being rushed to A&E and were kept in for a few nights.

Yes, I had a little spate of illness in the middle of the tour. I was in hospital last week, so I’ve been taking it easy.

Back home, what will you be doing in Longmeadow, your garden in Herefordshire?

I’ve got a week off in which I’ll be planting about 2,000 tulips. At this time of year, I do a lot of walking around looking at what needs to be done over winter. This is the time to make dramatic changes, by which I mean cut back a tree or move plants around or make paths. From early January, we start preparation for Gardeners’ World. The clock is ticking: we start filming at the end of February. But for now, I’m looking forward to taking [my dog] Ned for a walk.

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Monty Don’s British Gardens begins on Friday, 10th January at 8pm on BBC Two.

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