Monty Don

Monty Don – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes


Monty Don (born July 8, 1955) is an English horticulturist, broadcaster, and author best known as the long-time presenter of Gardeners’ World. Discover his life story, gardening philosophy, and memorable quotes.

Introduction

Monty Don is one of Britain’s most recognizable gardening personalities. With warmth, humility, and deep respect for nature, he has become a trusted guide to millions of viewers on Gardeners’ World, as well as readers of his many books. More than just a TV presenter, Don is a writer, gardener, advocate of organic practices, and a voice for the restorative powers of the garden in everyday life.

Early Life and Background

Monty Don was born 8 July 1955 in Iserlohn, West Germany, though his family soon returned to England.

He grew up in Hampshire, England, the youngest of several children.

One formative element: he spent time working in France in his youth, gardening and living simply, which helped shape his aesthetic sensibility and love for the land.

Education & Early Career

Don studied English at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he also met his future wife, Sarah Erskine.

After graduation, Monty Don and Sarah Erskine launched a costume jewellery business in the 1980s. The company grew notably, serving clients including high-end shops.

In the wake of that failure, Don turned increasingly toward writing, broadcasting, and gardening as both livelihood and calling.

In 1989, he made his television debut on This Morning, presenting gardening segments.

Rise to Prominence & Major Achievements

Gardeners’ World and TV Career

In 2003, Monty Don became the lead presenter of Gardeners’ World, succeeding Alan Titchmarsh.

Between 2008 and 2011, Don briefly withdrew from the role due to health reasons following a minor stroke in 2008. Longmeadow.

Beyond Gardeners’ World, Don has produced and presented many garden-based TV series: Around the World in 80 Gardens, Monty Don’s Italian Gardens, French Gardens, Paradise Gardens, Japanese Gardens, American Gardens, Adriatic Gardens, Spanish Gardens, and more.

In 2025, he announced that his next series along the Rhine will be his last.

Writing & Publications

Don is a prolific author. His published works include:

  • The Prickotty Bush (1990)

  • The Complete Gardener (2003, revised)

  • The Ivington Diaries

  • The Gardening Book (2023)

  • And many others on gardens around the world, design, plants, memoirs, and garden philosophy.

He also wrote a gardening column for The Observer from 1994 to 2006.

Honors & Recognition

  • In 2018, Monty Don was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to horticulture, broadcasting, and charity.

  • In 2022, he received the Victoria Medal of Honour from the Royal Horticultural Society.

  • In October 2024, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Herefordshire.

Philosophy, Style & Approach

Monty Don is known for being both technically knowledgeable and openly emotional about plants, gardens, and their connections to human life. He embraces organic methods and has championed sustainability and natural gardening practices.

He often speaks about the spiritual or emotional dimension of gardening: how the act of working with plants connects us to something larger, provides solace, and nurtures a sense of rootedness.

Don has also been candid about his struggles with depression, seasonal affective disorder, and health challenges, and how gardening has helped him cope.

He is supportive of community gardens, education projects, and believes in the empowerment that gardening brings to people—even those with very small spaces.

He describes his identity as a writer foremost: television is a vehicle, but his roots are in words and reflection.

Famous Quotes of Monty Don

Here are some of Monty Don’s memorable and often-cited lines:

“You do not need to know anything about a plant to know that it is beautiful.” “By starting from the ground and tapping into the absolute, uncheatable truth of nature we can make ourselves better.” “Nature doesn’t make gardens, people make gardens, and the story of a garden is always the story of a person.” “Happiness is a by-product rather than an end in itself. It pops into your life unbidden, and then tends to pop out again.” “The thing I like to stress about TV is that it's a team exercise. You really can't have too much of an ego.” “I live a very insular world based around my family and my home … I am always more interested in people than plants.”

These quotes reflect his humility, humanism, love for nature, and recognition of gardening as both personal and communal.

Lessons from Monty Don

  1. Gardening is more than technique. While plant knowledge matters, Don emphasizes empathy, observation, and emotional connection.

  2. Vulnerability is strength. His openness about mental health and personal struggles has resonated with many.

  3. Persistence matters. His path—from business failure to gardener and writer—shows resilience and reinvention.

  4. Small gardens count. Whether courtyard or window box, growing something matters.

  5. Share your joy. Through broadcasting, writing, and community projects, Don invites others into the garden’s beauty.

Conclusion

Monty Don is not just a gardener you see on TV: he is a thoughtful writer, a passionate naturalist, and a guide to living more gently with the land. His journey—from business collapse to cultural voice in horticulture—teaches patience, humility, and renewal. His gardens and words remind us that nature and human life are always intertwined, and that even the smallest patch of earth can heal, inspire, and connect.

Articles by the author

I use the period between Christmas and New Year to potter about, think and completely change my mindset. In that easy no-man's-land between Boxing Day and New Year, loins are girded and mettle readied. It is time, as we voyagers bid farewell to the old year, to fare forward.

Monty Don

Organic is loaded with a sense of rightness, with a set of rules. I would much rather someone bought food that was local and sustainable but not organic than bought organic food that had to be shipped across the world.

Monty Don

My gardening apprenticeship was similar to the way a chimney sweep is pushed up a chimney. It was enforced by my parents, non-negotiable - it would be weeding the strawberries, mowing the grass.

Monty Don

I don't think about being the Colin Firth of the gardening world. I live a very insular world based around my family and my home, and to them I'm not the Colin Firth of anything.

Monty Don

Gardening is seen as a pastime that is almost like belonging to the Church of England - a sign of maturity and wisdom and right thinking.

Monty Don

I always see gardening as escape, as peace really. If you are angry or troubled, nothing provides the same solace as nurturing the soil.

Monty Don

I think we put far too much interest in trying to get ten to 20 year olds interested in gardening. I think you should do everything you can to try and get them interested up to the age of 10.

Monty Don

People are increasingly realising that what they eat is important. You can't put junk food in your body and be healthy. All sorts of problems can develop, like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, strokes. Gardening not only helps with exercise and mental health, but it can improve diet as well.

Monty Don

We know that gardening is good for you. It is fantastic, all-round exercise. That is easy to see and evaluate. It inculcates high levels of well-being. That is undeniable and needs little measurement.

Monty Don

We know that gardening is good for you. It is fantastic, all-round exercise.

Monty Don

I just think that gardening is about the future, a slow thing, that is deep and spiritual as well as spiritually rewarding.

Monty Don

We are extremely uncomfortable with the spiritual aspects of gardening, and yet most people feel it in some form or other, even if it's a sense of connection to the greater world on a beautiful day.

Monty Don

The biggest obstacle to good gardening is the desire to know the answers and not the questions.

Monty Don

Gardening is easy. Stick it in the ground the right way up and most plants will grow perfectly well.

Monty Don

There is a direct correlation between gardening and mental health, not just to maintain good mental health but to repair it as well - that's anything in the gamut from depression to serious brain damage, schizophrenia or autism.

Monty Don

I think that's my strength, that I am an amateur gardener who loves gardening. I've read about it, I've written about it, I've done it all my life but at heart, I'm just a passionate amateur gardener.

Monty Don

Gardening is inevitably a process of constant, remorseless change. It is the constancy of that process that is so comforting, not any fixed moment.

Monty Don

I was a sickly child, and it wasn't until I was 19 that I realised I was quite a robust, vigorous person. Since then I've taken ill health to be an irritating interruption into what is a fairly reliable stream of good health.

Monty Don

We don't value food in Britain, so therefore the cheaper it is the better it is. We all eat far too much, we all pay far too little for our food. We have environmental problems, we have health problems, we have food transport problems.

Monty Don

I am always more interested in people than plants. Nature doesn't make gardens, people make gardens. And the story of a garden is always the story of a person.

Monty Don