Monty Don

{{Short description|English writer, broadcaster, horticulturist}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Monty Don

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE|DL|VMH}}

| image = Monty Don at the Hampton Court Flower Show in 2011 (cropped).jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Don in 2011

| birth_name = George Montagu Don

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1955|7|8|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Iserlohn, West Germany

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = {{hlist|Horticulturist|broadcaster|writer}}

| spouse = Sarah Erskine (1983–present)

| children = 3

| alma mater = Magdalene College, Cambridge

| relatives = {{plainlist|

George Don

}}

| website = {{URL|montydon.com}}

| years_active = 1989–present

| nationality = English

| television = Gardeners' World

}}

Montagu Denis Wyatt Don {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE|DL|VMH}} (born George Montagu Don; 8 July 1955) is an English horticulturist, broadcaster, and writer who is best known as the lead presenter of the BBC gardening television series Gardeners' World.

Born in Germany and raised in England, Don studied at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he met his future wife. They ran a successful costume jewellery business through the 1980s until the stock market crash of 1987 resulted in almost complete bankruptcy. In 1989, Don made his television debut as a regular on This Morning with a gardening segment, which led to further television work across the decade including his own shows for BBC Television and Channel 4. Don began his writing career at this time and published his first of over 25 books, in 1990. Between 1994 and 2006, Don wrote a weekly gardening column in The Observer.

In 2003, Don replaced Alan Titchmarsh, at his suggestion, as the lead presenter of Gardeners' World, only leaving the show between 2008 and 2011 owing to illness. Since then he has written and produced several garden series of his own, the most recent being Monty Don's Spanish Gardens which aired in 2024.

Early life and education

George Montagu Don was born on 8 July 1955 in Iserlohn, West Germany.{{cite web |url=https://www.magzter.com/articles/8807/342496/5cb72099b5588 |title=The Full Monty |first=Monty |last=Don |date=May 2019 |work=Gardeners' World |via=Magzter |access-date=11 August 2020}} He is the youngest of five children to British parents Denis Thomas Keiller Don, a career soldier stationed in Germany at the time of his birth, and (née) Janet Montagu Wyatt. Soon after Don's birth, his parents changed the name on his birth certificate to Montagu Denis Don because of a family spat over the name. When Don was 10, he added his mother's maiden name, becoming Montagu Denis Wyatt Don.

On Don's paternal side he is a descendant of botanist George Don and the Keiller family, best known as the inventors of Keiller's marmalade.{{cite news |url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/Features/Focus/article164842.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303051552/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/Features/Focus/article164842.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 March 2016 |title=He gave up his jewels but found gold in the garden |work=The Sunday Times |access-date=13 March 2010 |location=London |date=29 October 2006}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/06/15/monty-don-reveals-familys-170-old-feud-royal-horticultural-society/ |title=Monty Don reveals his family's 170-year-old feud with the Royal Horticultural Society |first=Helena |last=Horton |date=15 June 2019 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} On his maternal side, he is descended from the Wyatt family of architects.{{cite web |url=https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2010/who-do-you-think-you-are/monty-don-84/ |title=Monty Don – Who Do You Think You Are? |date=29 August 2010 |publisher=TheGenealogist |access-date=25 August 2020}} Don has a twin sister, Alison, who at the age of 19 was nearly killed in a car accident, suffering a broken neck and blindness.

When Don was one, the family moved to Hampshire, England.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/apr/06/features.review7 |title=And quiet hoes the Don |first=Simon |last=Garfield |date=6 April 2003 |work=The Guardian |access-date=6 May 2020}} He described his parents as "very strict".{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/my-secret-life-monty-don-gardener-54-1796177.html |title=My Secret Life: Monty Don, gardener, 54 |website=Independent.co.uk |date=3 October 2009 |access-date=30 June 2017}} He attended three independent schools: Quidhampton School in Basingstoke, followed by Bigshotte School in Wokingham, where at seven, he was asked to leave school for being too boisterous. He then attended Malvern College in Malvern, which he hated, followed by a state comprehensive school, the Vyne School,{{cite news |title=Passed/Failed: Monty Don |work=The Independent|location=London |date=2 December 1999 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/passedfailed-monty-don-1125504.html |access-date=25 November 2023 |first=Jonathan |last=Sale}} and a state sixth form college, Queen Mary's College, Basingstoke.{{cn|date=November 2023}} He failed his A-levels and while studying for retakes at night school, worked on a building site and a pig farm by day. During his childhood he had become an avid gardener and farmer.{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/may/25/bbc.gardens |title=Green fingers, silver tongue |first=Hephzibah |last=Anderson |date=25 May 2008 |work=The Guardian |access-date=6 May 2020}}

In his late teens, Don spent several months in Aix-en-Provence, France where he worked as a gardener and played rugby in local teams.{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardenprojects/3308970/The-likely-lads.html |title=The likely lads |first=Sarah |last=Raven |date=1 March 2003 |work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=8 February 2016}} He returned to England, determined to attend Cambridge University out of "sheer bloody-mindedness", and passed the entrance exams. He studied English at Magdalene College,{{cite web |title=Meet Monty Don |publisher=UKTV Gardens |url=http://uktv.co.uk/gardens/item/aid/503558 |access-date=22 May 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330134010/http://uktv.co.uk/gardens/item/aid/503558 |archive-date=30 March 2008}} during which time he met his future wife Sarah Erskine, a trained jeweller and architect.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/08/monty-don-gardens-bbc |title=The interview: Monty Don |work=The Guardian |location=London |first=Kate |last=Kellaway |date=8 March 2009 |access-date=13 May 2010}} Don took up boxing to impress his father, a former heavyweight boxing champion in the army, becoming a Cambridge Half Blue for boxing. He gave up after getting knocked out and suffering concussion.

Career

=Jewellery business=

In 1981, Don and Erskine started Monty Don Jewellery, a London-based business that designed, made, and sold costume jewellery. The company became a success and in five years, operated from a shop on Beauchamp Place in Knightsbridge with hundreds of outworkers and had secured as many as 60 outlets across the UK, including Harrods, Harvey Nichols, and Liberty. Among their customers were Boy George, Michael Jackson, and Princess Diana. However, the 1987 stock market crash caused an almost complete bankruptcy as it cut off American sales, their biggest market.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/260342942/ |title=Goodbye to all that |first=Monty |last=Don |date=13 August 1990 |page=16 |newspaper=The Guardian |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=6 May 2020}}{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardenprojects/3322866/Needs-sunny-situation.html |title=Needs sunny situation |first=Elizabeth |last=Grice |date=21 August 2004 |work=The Telegraph |access-date=6 May 2020}}

The situation prompted Don to embark on a career in writing and broadcasting. Reflecting on the experience, he wrote: "We were lambs to the slaughter and we lost everything, [...] we lost our house, our business. We sold every stick of furniture we had at Leominster market". He was unemployed from 1991 to 1993, and spent all of 1992 on the dole. Some of their jewellery is kept at the V&A Museum.

=Television=

==Early career==

By mid-1989, Don had written several gardening articles and his home garden was featured in various publications. The increased exposure opened doors: soon Don was writing a gardening column for the Mail on Sunday, had a book deal, and an invitation to screen test for a proposed weekly live gardening segment on the ITV television breakfast show This Morning. Don landed the spot and his first segment aired in October 1989, receiving £100 a show.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57196970/ |title=Beats working |first=Stuart |last=Husband |date=20 November 1999 |work=The Guardian |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=12 August 2020}}{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/apr/09/life1.lifemagazine7 |title=How gardening saved my life |first=Monty |last=Don |date=9 April 2000 |work=The Observer |access-date=10 August 2020}}

After 26 spots on This Morning, Don landed additional television work as presenter on the BBC Television shows Holiday and Tomorrow's World. Though he had some doubts about being a presenter, he took the jobs as he felt desperate for work. In November 1999, Channel 4 started to air the gardening series Fork to Fork, in which Don and his wife presented segments on growing and cooking organic vegetables.{{cite web |url=https://www.marketingweek.com/c4-secures-sponsorship-for-two-new-programmes/ |title=C4 secures sponsorship for two new programmes |publisher=Marketing Week |date=4 November 1999 |access-date=12 August 2020}} This was followed by three other series hosted by Don between 1999 and 2003: Real Gardens, Lost Gardens, and Don Roaming.

==''Gardeners' World''==

File:Monty Don records to camera.JPG in 2012]]

In September 2002, the BBC announced Don as the new lead presenter of its long-running series Gardeners' World from 2003, succeeding Alan Titchmarsh.{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1408692/Monty-Don-adds-a-little-muscle-to-Gardeners-World.html |title=Monty Don adds a little muscle to Gardeners' World |first=Tom |last=Leonard |work=The Telegraph |date=30 September 2002 |access-date=12 August 2020}} Don is the first self-taught horticulturist presenter in the show's history. Don hosted the show until he put his career on hold to recover from his minor stroke in 2008, and the show continued with Toby Buckland filling in as host. During Don's initial stint, viewing figures fell from 5 million to 2 million, this fall being most frequently blamed on the BBC's decision to change the show's format soon after Don's arrival.{{Cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/6998352/Back-to-basics-at-Gardeners-World-take-two.html |title=Back to basics at Gardeners' World: take two |website=The Telegraph|date=15 January 2010 }} After viewing figures fell below two million for the first time in 2009,Smyth, Chris (12 January 2010). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110629125844/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6984432.ece Gardeners’ World going back to its roots after gimmicky makeover, say producers.] The Times. Retrieved 28 February 2011. the BBC announced further changes to the programme to entice viewers back.Richardson, Tim (12 January 2010). [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/6976017/Gardeners-World-BBC-goes-back-to-basics.html Gardeners' World: BBC goes back to basics]. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 28 February 2011. In December 2010, Don announced his return as host for the 2011 series.Singh, Anita (7 December 2010). [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/8186817/Monty-Don-returning-to-Gardeners-World.html Monty Don returning to Gardeners' World].The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 28 February 2011.{{cite news |title=Buckland to host Gardeners' World |publisher=BBC |date=13 August 2008 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7558773.stm |access-date=9 March 2010}} Reaction to the announcement was divided on the programme's blog.Pasco, Adam (7 December 2010). [http://blog.gardenersworld.com/2010/12/07/monty-don-returns-to-gardeners-world/ Monty Don returns to Gardeners’ World]. Gardeners' musings (Gardener's World official blog). www.gardenersworld.com.

Initially, Don filmed episodes of Gardeners' World in Berryfields, a rented garden in Stratford-upon-Avon. When he returned as host in 2011, Don began to present from his own garden, Longmeadow,{{cite magazine |first=Lucy |last=Cavendish |url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-03-08/monty-don-my-garden-has-come-into-itself-for-better-or-for-worse |magazine=Radio Times |title=Monty Don: My garden has come into itself, for better or for worse |date=8 March 2013 |access-date=14 March 2014}}{{cite web |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-03-15/monty-don-id-like-a-five-year-arrangement-with-gardeners-world/ |title=Monty Don: I'd like a "five-year arrangement" with Gardeners' World |first=David |last=Brown |work=The Telegraph |date=15 March 2012 |access-date=12 August 2020}} in Ivington, Herefordshire. He was frequently seen on screen with his Golden Retriever Nigel until the dog died in May 2020,{{Cite tweet |user=TheMontyDon |number=1259793316427825152 |title=I am very sorry to announce that Nigel has died. He slipped quietly away with no pain or suffering and is now buried in the garden with lots of tennis balls. Rest now old friend. See you in the sweet bye and bye". |first=Monty |last=Don |date=11 May 2020}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/monty-don-announces-death-dog-18232294 |title=Monty Don announces death of dog – days after Gardeners World appearance |first=James |last=Rodger |date=11 May 2020 |website=Birmingham Mail |access-date=11 May 2020}} shortly before his 12th birthday. In 2016, Don introduced viewers to his new golden retriever, Nell.{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/BBCGardenersWorld/posts/1959884204237398:0 |title=BBC official Gardeners World Facebook page |website=Facebook |date=4 March 2016}} This was followed by the addition of Patti, a Yorkshire Terrier, in April 2020.{{Cite web |url=https://www.hortweek.com/bbc-gardeners-world-tv-presenter-monty-don-backs-grower/ornamentals/article/1681421 |title=BBC Gardeners' World TV presenter Monty Don backs grower |access-date=13 May 2020 |url-access=subscription}} Nell was diagnosed with cancer in June 2023 and died in October 2023.{{Cite web|url=https://www.countryliving.com/uk/news/a45610361/monty-don-dog-nell-dies/|title=Monty Don announces death of beloved dog Nell in emotional tribute|date=23 October 2023|website=Country Living}} In 2020, Don signed a contract with the BBC to continue presenting Gardeners' World for three years.

In February 2024, Don clarified that he had no immediate plans to leave Gardeners World, saying, "I'm now 68, I was going to stop when I was 65. I'll now go on till I'm 70 and then reconsider. The reason for that is that, apart from anything else, it's not so much wanting my garden back, although there’s a strong element of that. .. It's just that, whilst I've still got energy, there are lots of other projects I want to do that mean I can't be here every week."{{Cite web|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv/monty-don-health-update-after-28673060|title=Monty Don health update after saying he would quit Gardeners' World|first=Neil|last=Shaw|date=21 February 2024|website=Wales Online}}

==Own series==

File:Monty Don Left.jpg

Don is also known for writing and presenting his own series. In 2005, he set up a {{convert|6|acre|ha|adj=on}} smallholding in Herefordshire so a group of young drug offenders could work the land. The project was documented for the BBC series Growing Out of Trouble, airing in 2006. This was followed by the ambitious BBC series Around the World in 80 Gardens in 2008, where Don visited 80 gardens of a variety of styles worldwide.{{cite web |url=http://www.thenaturewatch.com/2008/12/natural-world-cork-forest-in-bottle.html |title=Natural World: Cork – Forest in a Bottle |work=The NatureWatch |year=2008 |access-date=22 December 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306204204/http://www.thenaturewatch.com/2008/12/natural-world-cork-forest-in-bottle.html |archive-date=6 March 2009}}

In 2010, Don presented My Dream Farm, a Channel 4 series which helped people learn to become successful smallholders,{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/programmes/my-dream-farm|title=My dream farm|access-date=30 June 2017}}{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/7053750/My-Dream-Farm-Channel-4-review.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |title=My Dream Farm, Channel 4, review |date=22 January 2010 |access-date=13 May 2010}} and Mastercrafts, a BBC series which celebrated six traditional British crafts.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qvrcj|title=Mastercrafts – BBC Two |publisher=BBC |access-date=30 June 2017}} Monty Don's Italian Gardens aired on the BBC in 2011,[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardenstovisit/8375963/Monty-Dons-Italian-Campaign.html "Monty Don’s Italian Campaign".] The Daily Telegraph, by Monty Don, 11 March 2011. which was followed by Monty Don's French Gardens, in 2013.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qgfjf "Monty Don's French Gardens".] BBC programme website. Later that year, Don presented an episode of Great British Garden Revival. In 2014, Don became the lead presenter for the BBC's flagship Chelsea Flower Show coverage, again replacing Titchmarsh.{{cn|date=May 2023}} In 2023 he presented alongside Joe Swift and Sophie Raworth.{{cite web |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/chelsea-flower-show-2023-cast/ |title=Meet the presenters for the Chelsea Flower Show 2023 |date=19 May 2023 |publisher=Radio Times |access-date=23 May 2023}}

Since 2014, Don has presented three series of Big Dreams, Small Spaces,{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b071c28x/episodes/guide |title=BBC Two – Big Dreams Small Spaces – Episode guide |publisher=BBC}} where he helps amateur gardeners in creating their own "dream spaces" at home. In 2015, Don presented the four-part BBC series The Secret History of the British Garden, charting the development of British gardens from the 17th to the 20th century.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06q5gd0 |title=The Secret History of the British Garden – BBC Two |publisher=BBC |access-date=30 June 2017}} Don's next series was Monty Don's Paradise Gardens in 2018, travelling across the Islamic world and beyond in search of paradise gardens and considering their place in the Quran.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09p5qd8 |title=Monty Don's Paradise Gardens – BBC Two |publisher=BBC |access-date=20 January 2018}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/jan/20/monty-dons-paradise-gardens-review-a-heady-tour-of-earthly-delights |title=Monty Don's Paradise Gardens review – a heady tour of earthly delights |first=Sam |last=Wollaston |date=20 January 2018 |work=The Guardian |access-date=20 January 2018}}{{cite web |url=https://www.growlikegrandad.co.uk/getting-inspiration/monty-dons-paradise-gardens-just-gardens.html |title=Monty Don's Paradise Gardens review – More Than Just Gardens |first=Matt |last=Peskett |date=19 January 2018 |website=Grow Like Grandad |access-date=20 January 2018}} This was followed by Monty Don's Japanese Gardens in 2019,{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002k0z |title=BBC Two – Monty Don's Japanese Gardens |publisher=BBC}} Monty Don's American Gardens in 2020,{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000d2gr |title=BBC Two – Monty Don's American Gardens |publisher=BBC}} Monty Don's Adriatic Gardens in 2022,{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00135tz/episodes/guide|title=BBC Two - Monty Don's Adriatic Gardens - Episode guide|website=BBC}} Monty Don's Spanish Gardens in 2024.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001wm2j|title=Monty Don's Spanish Gardens|website=BBC}} and Monty Don's British Gardens in 2025.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0026rfj|title=Monty Don's British Gardens|website=BBC}}

=RHS Chelsea=

In 2025 Don, in collaboration with BBC Radio 2, created his first RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden, designed around the needs of dogs. The garden incorporated dog-friendly features such as a lawn, water for wallowing, and shade-providing trees. Created with horticulturist Jamie Butterworth, the garden would be relocated to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home after the show.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bbc-monty-don-chelsea-flower-show-b2752634.html|title=Monty Don explains toxic plants in his dog-friendly garden|date=17 May 2025|website=The Independent}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9q0w2v83wzo|title=Royals and dogs shine at Chelsea Flower Show|date=19 May 2025|website=BBC News}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/news/2025/rhs-radio-2-dog-garden|title=RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden will be Monty Don's first Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025 / RHS|website=www.rhs.org.uk}}

=Writer=

Don has described himself primarily as a writer, "who happens to have lots of television work." By the early 1990s, Don had written two unpublished novels, The Clematis Affair and An Afternoon in Padua. He later described them as "excruciatingly bad".{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NNNPjT9xUY8C&q=novels&pg=PT26 |title=The Jewel Garden – Monty Don, Sarah Don, Monty Don & Sarah Don – Google Books |date=1 March 2012 |isbn=9781444718782 |access-date=22 April 2016 |last1=Don |first1=Monty |last2=Don |first2=Sarah|publisher=John Murray Press }} In January 1994, Allan Jenkins, then editor of The Observer, invited Don to write a weekly gardening column for the newspaper. The column began in February of that year and lasted until May 2006; Jenkins was his editor for seven years. In a piece from 2004 to commemorate the tenth year of the column, Don wrote: "It has been more life-changing than any other work I have done in my adult life." Don has written articles for the Daily Mail and Mail Online since 2004.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In 2005 Routledge published The Jewel Garden: A Story of Despair and Redemption, a joint autobiography and the story of Don and his wife Sarah's home and gardens at Longmeadow.{{Cite web |url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2004/sep/19/gardens |title=Monty Don: Colour therapy |date=19 September 2004 |website=The Guardian}}Personality Presenters: Television's Intermediaries with Viewers, By Frances Bonner, p. 92, Routledge 2016. In 2016 Hodder Books published an audiobook of Don's Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs, read by the author.{{cite web |url=https://soundcloud.com/hodderbooks/nigel-my-family-and-other-dogs-written-and-read-by-monty-don-audiobook-extract |title=NIGEL: MY FAMILY AND OTHER DOGS written and read by Monty Don – audiobook extract |publisher= Hodder Books |access-date=27 October 2017}}

Style and reception

Between 2008 and 2016, Don was President of the Soil Association.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-05-22/monty-don-i-still-feel-like-a-black-sheep-ish-25-year-old/ |title=Monty Don: "I still feel like a black sheep-ish 25-year-old" |magazine=Radio Times |access-date=1 December 2017}} He is currently a patron of Bees for Development Trust{{cite web |url=http://www.beesfordevelopment.org/about-us/staff-patrons-trustees-and-volunteers/ |title=Staff, Patrons, Trustees and Volunteers |access-date=8 July 2017}} and the Pope's Grotto Preservation Trust.{{Cite web |url=http://www.popesgrotto.org.uk/ |title=Pope's Grotto Preservation Trust – Patrons: Monty Don OBE, Sir Donald Insall CBE, Kim Wilkie |website=popesgrotto.org.uk}}

Don had never received formal training as a gardener. In 2006, he commented, "I was – am – an amateur gardener and a professional writer. My only authority came from a lifetime of gardening and a passion amounting to an obsession for my own garden."{{cite news |last=Don |first=Monty |title=Through the garden gate |work=The Observer |date=28 May 2006 |url=http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/experts/montydon/0,,,00.html |access-date=11 July 2008 |location=London |archive-date=5 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705153206/http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/experts/montydon/0,,,00.html |url-status=dead }}

Don is a keen proponent of organic gardening, becoming "officially" organic in his own garden in 1997. The practice of organic techniques often features in his published and broadcast work. The organic approach is most prominent in his 2003 book The Complete Gardener. This has led him into some controversy with those advocating non-organic techniques, with some criticising his position of influence presenting Gardeners' World and exclusion of non-organic solutions to pests and diseases in the garden.{{cite news |title=Monty Don in row with BBC over pledge he will 'promote non organic gardening' |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9292402/Monty-Don-in-row-with-BBC-over-pledge-he-will-promote-non-organic-gardening.html |access-date =29 July 2016 |location=London}}

Don's sartorial style in the garden has been the subject of some critical attention, with Richard D. North commenting, in 2013:{{cite web |url=http://richarddnorth.com/2013/02/monty-don-in-peasant-blue-on-grand-french-gardens/ |title=Monty Don, in peasant blue, on grand French gardens |publisher=Richard D North |date=6 February 2013 |access-date=22 April 2016}}

{{blockquote|At home and abroad, Monty Don is the {{lang|fr|paysan manqué}}. Where an arts presenter might eschew the little black Armani suit and the dazzling white shirt for the crumpled linen, Don’s gear retreats into the manly rumpledon of a workman’s cotton drill. He is not quite the Mr McGregor of the Potter books: real-life ancient gardeners wore mighty cords and moleskins, tweeds and flannels – and sacks if the weather was bad enough. The Don affectation is one tad more painterly than that.

... I guess that this is where we come up against the row within Monty Don, between the lightly earthy garden enthusiast and the grimmer unworldly hippy moralist. Well, we all have an inner cheerfully accepting Cavalier, and it does battle with our gloomier Roundhead.}}

In 2005, Don himself dedicated a whole column to this subject, commenting:{{cite news |author=Monty Don |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2005/dec/04/shopping.gardens |title=Dirty Dressing |work=The Guardian |access-date=22 April 2016}}

{{blockquote|I get lots of emails, lots of letters. A few are crazed, quite a few astonishingly demanding... quite a surprisingly large chunk of letters and emails are about one specific topic that is at first appearance only tangentially about gardening. These are the ones asking me about the clothes that I garden in.}}

Don wears a collar and tie when presenting the Chelsea Flower Show.

In June 2020, Prospect magazine declared Don "the nation's gardener".{{cite web |url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/monty-don-interview-garden-books-dog-wife-new-gardeners-world-alice-vincent |title=How Monty Don became the nation's gardener |first=Alice|last=Vincent |date=11 June 2020 |work=Prospect |access-date=10 August 2020}} Comedian Joe Lycett has described Monty Don as a gay icon.{{Cite web |date=2022-11-13 |title=Joe Lycett to shred £10,000 if David Beckham promotes World Cup in Qatar |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/nov/13/joe-lycett-to-shred-10000-if-david-beckham-promotes-world-cup-in-qatar |access-date=2022-11-19 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}

Personal life

=Family=

Don married Sarah Erskine in 1983. They have two sons and a daughter. The couple lived in Islington, north London, while Don pursued postgraduate study at the London School of Economics and worked as a waiter at Joe Allen restaurant in Covent Garden and later as a binman. The couple then moved to the De Beauvoir Town area of Hackney where they made their first garden.{{cite web |url=https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/property-home/article/time-and-place-monty-don-fc7wpzzkpf0 |title=Time and place: Monty Don |work=The Sunday Times|date=6 March 2011 |access-date=30 October 2018}}

In 1989, they relocated to The Hanburies, a country house in Herefordshire. The making of the garden there, and the subsequent loss of the house in the aftermath of the crash of their jewellery business, was the subject of Don's first book, The Prickotty Bush. In 1991, the Dons bought a home in Ivington, Herefordshire where they started to create a new garden named Longmeadow. The home was unfit to live in at the time of purchase, so while they refurbished it they rented a home in Leominster that was infested with rats and had no heating. They moved into their Ivington home at the end of 1992.{{cite web |url=http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-ivington-diaries-9781408802496/ |title=The Ivington Diaries |last=Bloomsbury.com |website=Bloomsbury Publishing |access-date=30 June 2017}}

=Nigel and other dogs=

File:Nigel the gardening dog.jpg

Don has owned many dogs throughout his adult life. Two that he currently owns are Ned, a Golden Retriever, and Patti, a Yorkshire terrier, which are seen on camera with Don on Gardeners' World.{{Cite web |title=Herefordshire gardener Monty Don shares new picture of adorable puppy |url=https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/23018634.bbc-gardeners-world-monty-don-shares-new-dog-pictures/ |access-date=2022-10-28 |website=Hereford Times |date=4 October 2022 |language=en}} Nellie, another Golden Retriever, died in October 2023.{{cite web|url =https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/celebs-tv/gardeners-world-presenter-monty-don-8848615 |title=Nell dies | website=Gloucestershire Live|date=21 October 2023 }} He also owns dogs that are not featured on the show.{{Cite web |url=https://www.gardenersworld.com/news/monty-on-nigel/ |title=Monty on Nigel |website=BBC Gardeners' World Magazine}} The coppice at Longmeadow holds the graves of Don's many pets, including dogs Nigel, Nellie, Beaufort, Red, Poppy and Barry, and cats Stimpy and Blue.{{Cite web |url=https://www.montydon.com/dogs |title=Dogs |website=Monty Don}} Don also has a sheep farm, on which he keeps 500 ewes.{{cite web |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/features/digging-monty-don-tvs-favourite-gardener-on-turning-60-31198500.html |title=Digging Monty Don: TV's favourite gardener on turning 60 |work=Belfast Telegraph |date=6 May 2015 |access-date=22 April 2016}}

Nigel was a male Golden Retriever dog owned by Don. Nigel made many appearances on Gardeners' World, sometimes with Nellie. The dog was chosen as a seven-week-old puppy from a litter in the Forest of Dean on 1 July 2008,{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LQ3JCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT129 |title=Nigel: my family and other dogs |first=Monty |last=Don |date=22 September 2016 |publisher=John Murray Press |isbn=9781473641723 |via=Google Books |access-date=11 May 2020}} and was popular with viewers who were concerned when he disappeared from the programme in September 2012. He had injured himself after twisting sideways when jumping to catch a tennis ball and had ruptured an intervertebral disc in his spine.{{Cite web |url=https://www.realitytitbit.com/bbc/gardeners-world-meet-nigel-the-dog-montys-pet-has-his-own-twitter |title=Gardeners' World: Meet Nigel the dog – Monty's pet has his own Twitter! |publisher=realitytitbit.com |date=27 September 2019 |access-date=11 May 2020}} Nigel recovered and resumed his television appearances.

Don said that he had chosen Nigel because the domestic dog signifies the good and bad in human relationships with nature; humans can prioritise fluffy animals over others.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02gz1sx/p02gywhs |title=Monty Don talks about Nigel |website=BBC Shared Planet |access-date=3 October 2015}} In September 2016 an autobiography entitled Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs was published, telling the story of Nigel and the other dogs in Don's life, including the female golden retriever, Nellie. On 11 May 2020 Don announced, through his Twitter and Instagram pages, that Nigel had died, six days before his 12th birthday.{{Cite web |url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/monty-don-announces-death-dog-18232294 |title=Monty Don announces death of dog – days after Gardeners World appearance |first=James |last=Rodger |date=11 May 2020 |website=Birmingham Mail |accessdate=11 May 2020}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CAC14rUgqqv/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/s/instagram/CAC14rUgqqv |archive-date=24 December 2021 |url-access=registration|title=Monty Don on Instagram: "I am very sorry to announce that Nigel has died. To the end he was happy, healthy and his usual calm, lovely self. But he was suddenly…" |website=Instagram}}{{cbignore}} Don told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that Nigel had been more than a companion and had helped him with his struggles with depression. He said, "He was a bear of slightly limited brain, what he had was this absolute sense of purity. He exuded a kind of unsullied innocence and we all love our dogs; everybody thinks their dog is special. I've had lots of dogs and there was something special about Nigel."{{Cite web |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/monty-don-dog-nigel-hole-lives-a4439536.html |title=Monty Don: There's a hole in our lives after death of beloved dog |date=13 May 2020 |website=Evening Standard|location=London |access-date=13 May 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/stayingin/tvfilm/monty-don-dog-nigel-death-support-a4437901.html |title=Monty Don thanks fan for support after his dog Nigel's death |date=12 May 2020 |website=Evening Standard|location=London |access-date=13 May 2020}} As with Don's other dogs, Nigel and Nellie are buried in the garden at Longmeadow.{{cite web | url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/film/20220503139313/gardeners-world-monty-don-heartbreaking-update-nigel-grave/ | title=Gardeners' World star Monty Don leaves fans in tears with heartbreaking update | date=3 May 2022 }}

=Health=

Don has suffered with depression since his mid-twenties.{{cite web |last=Don |first=Monty |title=Now we are 10|work=The Observer |date=22 February 2004 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2004/feb/22/gardens |access-date=11 July 2008}} He first wrote about his experiences with it, and its effect on his personal life, in a piece for The Observer in 2000. His editor recalled that it "changed the way that people saw him" and Don himself said the article generated "a very immediate response" from readers. Don recalled "great spans of muddy time" in his life and realised that gardening "heals me better than any medicine". This quote served as the inspiration for William Doyle's 2021 album Great Spans of Muddy Time.{{Cite web |url=https://driftrecords.com/products/william-doyle-great-spans-of-muddy-time |title=William Doyle – Great Spans of Muddy Time |website=The Drift Record Shop}}

At one point, Don's wife threatened to leave with their children if he did not seek help. After receiving cognitive behavioural therapy and taking Prozac for a short time, Don quit both when he realised his depression was mostly seasonal, which he attributed to seasonal affective disorder, and found relief with a light box.

In August 2007, Don suffered from a bout of peritonitis, an abdominal infection. His wife had found him unconscious on the floor and he was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery.

In February 2008, Don suffered a minor stroke at home. He had been feeling unwell since the previous Christmas, owing mostly to exhaustion from travelling to film Around the World in 80 Gardens. When his symptoms did not improve, a brain scan weeks later revealed a temporary blockage in one of the arteries to his brain. In May 2008 he put his career on hold to recover.{{cite web |title=TV gardener Monty Don has stroke |publisher=BBC News |date=22 May 2008 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7415469.stm |access-date=9 March 2010}}

In 2015, Don said that years of gardening had left him with sore knees, one of which causes constant pain and needs replacing.

In May 2022, it was reported that Don had COVID-19 and had been bedridden for four days.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/healthandbeauty/health-and-fitness/20220517140432/monty-don-bedridden-covid/|title=Gardeners' World star Monty Don worries fans with health news: 'utterly exhausted'|date=17 May 2022|website=HELLO!}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.entertainmentdaily.co.uk/news/monty-don-health-concerns-covid-tv-return/|title=Monty Don fans express concerns as he shares news of TV return|date=19 May 2022|website=Entertainment Daily}} He contracted COVID-19 again in May 2023.{{cite web |url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/healthandbeauty/health-and-fitness/492871/gardeners-world-monty-don-inundated-messages-health-update/ |title=Gardeners' World star Monty Don inundated with messages after sharing health update |last=Morris |first=Nicky |date=15 May 2023 |publisher=hellomagazine.com |access-date=23 May 2023}}

=Other=

In July 2006, he appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, choosing an eclectic mix of pop and classical records; the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" was his favourite disc, his book choice was Collected Poems by Henry Vaughan and his luxury item the painting Hendrikje Bathing by Rembrandt.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0093vd5 "Desert Island Discs: Monty Don"] 14 July 2006.

In 2006, Don had launched the Monty Don Project, an effort to assist drug users by involving them in agriculture and gardening. The project was the focus of both a book and a TV series, Growing Out Of Trouble.{{cite web |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/i-think-im-dying-monty-don-speaks-for-the-first-time-of-the-stroke-that-changed-his-life-6911920.html |title='I think I'm dying': Monty Don speaks for the first time of the stroke |date=11 April 2012 |access-date=9 June 2018}}{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/nov/05/houseandgarden.gardens|first=Kate|last=Kellaway|title=When Monty met the drug addicts|work=The Guardian|date=5 November 2006|access-date=12 January 2024}}

Honours

Don was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to horticulture, to broadcasting and to charity.{{London Gazette |issue=62310 |date=9 June 2018 |page=B11 |supp=y}}

In May 2022, he was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by the council of the Royal Horticultural Society.{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0017nsd | title=BBC Two - RHS Chelsea Flower Show, 2022, Episode 2 }}

Don was appointed as a deputy lieutenant of Herefordshire on 14 October 2024.{{London Gazette |date=18 October 2024 |issue=64544 |page=20554}}

Publications

=Books=

{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|

The Prickotty Bush (1990)
The Weekend Gardener (1995)
The Sensuous Garden (1997)
Gardening Mad (1998; with Fleur Olby)
Urban Jungle: The Simple Way to Tame Your Town Garden (1998)
Fork to Fork (1999; released as From the Garden to the Table: Growing, Cooking, and Eating Your Own Food in 2003)
The Complete Gardener (2003; 2nd edn. 2021)
The Jewel Garden (2004; with Sarah Don)
Gardeners' World: Gardening from Berryfields (2005)
The Organic Gardener (2005)
Growing Out of Trouble (2006)
My Roots: A Decade in the Garden (2006)
Around the World in 80 Gardens (2008)
The Ivington Diaries (2009)
My Dream Farm (2010)
The Home Cookbook (2010; with Sarah Don)
Extraordinary Gardens of the World (2010)
The Great Gardens of Italy (2011; with Derry Moore)
Gardening at Longmeadow (2012)
The Road to Le Tholonet: A French Garden Journey (2013)
Nigel: My Family and Other Dogs (2016)
Down to Earth: Gardening Wisdom (2017)
Paradise Gardens: The World's Most Beautiful Islamic Gardens (2018; with Derry Moore)
Japanese Gardens: A Journey (2019; with Derry Moore)
My Garden World: The Natural Year (2020)
American Gardens (2020; with Derry Moore)
Venetian Gardens (2022; with Derry Moore)
The Gardening Book (2023)