Letters to garden makers

Dear Monty, This is my 40th letter to you...maybe I will stop here? This one is about peaks, storms in gardening teacups, wearing tights and coming over all ecclesiastical...it is going to be a long one, so make a cup of tea first before you read. 21/6/12 The long wet dark day of mid summer - tomorrow to Scotland and Saturday walking up Ben Nevis in rain then on to Cumbria and finally Snowdon. 23/6/12 In Mallaig after driving through a short night sitting in the foetal position over the rear wheel arch of our minibus. We arrived at 3am and camped out in the fisherman's mission opposite the port, with its berthed ferry and fishing fleet surrounded by the hills. I tried to sleep to the sound of seagulls and snoring...I love the sound of seagulls. We climbed up Ben Nevis in the rain as predicted, passing hundreds of people - a continuous stream of humanity mirroring the gushing streams tumbling down the mountain into the valley below. Slipping and tripping people wearing lea...

Dear Monty, Fantasy, anxiety and a sense of place. The sun sets on my fantasy...the garden is not finished - there is more to do, we have to keep moving forward -  seeing new challenges - broadening our horizons - enlarging our borders. I have been doing a lot of walking and meditating in preparation for walking up and down 3 mountains. I need to get fit in order to die with dignity! I have always loved being in the landscape, which is why I paint and draw it. Eleanor Flaherty www.eleanorflaherty.co.uk  artist, filmmaker, photographer and qualified mountain guide took some photographs of my third rate fresco's which I share with you here. These are pictures of places with associations for me which are deep and personal.                                      I...

Dear Monty, Madmen and storms. 6/6/12 Back to work as Paul the nurse. Yesterday this madman had all his paintings photographed professionally for the first time. What happens next ? Madmen deliver profound messages, perhaps 'madness' is closer to the truth of what we all are than is 'sanity' ? What I see in artists, poets, writers, musicians/composers and yes, gardeners, is that often there is an edge to them - they see beyond the obvious - there is a soul connection to their lives - perhaps even a spiritual dimension to their vision. This is why they are akin in my mad mind to prophets or seers. There is a depth and sense of revelation to life, which sadly has its downside when that life is sometimes flat and hard as iron. I have been thinking of gardens more as an expressive art form recently, this has been spurred on by visiting The Veddw and by reading more and more bloggery on gardens. ( Interesting blog post today by Noel Kingsbury on German gardens ...

Dear Monty , Just a brief bank holiday ramble before the return to the real world. Despite all of the excitement of gardens, pots and Monty Don, of butterflies and pesticides and the sun bursting out from cloud....I feel flat. Elijah the Old Testament prophet after seeing amazing things from the hand of God, retired to sit under a shrub and said 'I've had enough !' This is the problem when exciting things happen, they are invariably followed by the mundane, and the flattening of other peoples opinions. Oh well washing the green algae off the windows and sowing seed should anchor me, certainly returning to work and serving the public should. Even the sound of the chickens noisily laying eggs acts as an anchor. The whisper after drama that is what Elijah needed, he had seen the drama but his soul needed the intimacy of the whisper. By the way I am coming to hear you talk about your latest book at the Hay Festival, don't worry I won't mob you. Paul