Letters to garden makers

Dear Monty, Today on this last day of October I have been reading 'New Eyes for Plants' , it is all about looking, observing - seeing beyond the obvious. It is on loan from a good friend who also sees beyond the obvious. Sometimes when I look at myself I see things which I know are potentially as damaging to myself and others as storms would be, then I look out at the stand of trees in the park and take in a deep breath. I believe God does place us in deep places as well as on high places, in the dark as well as the light, this is reflected in our cycles of night and day and of season. We choose yes, but also we are allowed to become melancholic, and I know that we are not meant to stay there. Self belief can be just as damaging as self doubt. Perhaps most of us are somewhere in the middle sometimes tipping over to one or the other. The rock remains stable like the deep rooted trees while we sway about - this is the way it is. The way is found through our stu...

Dear Monty, On light, dark, hot, cold and pruning. 19/10/12 Today after reading about future rest - I suffer from a terrible rage. I just do not know where it comes from. It seems I just believe I am in control of one weak point in my life only for another to re - emerge. It is an horrific thing this rage when it appears. Perhaps it is about control - a rage against control and seeming injustice and offence. I am just a fool. A healing thought for my rage was Kerith Williams's analogy of the children's pop up toy - you bash down one 'sin' only for another one to pop up somewhere else. That is me. Love is the opposite to offence and rage - it is gentle and kind, it does not boast - is not easily angered. I need to love. Tonight on GW you said that pruning is one of the most important things in creating a garden, perhaps the same is so in life. 23/10/12 The way of the flesh. My flesh is corrupted by a driving force of such great strength. My place is the c...

21/10/12 Dear Monty, Pillars, stones and mountains. There is an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and sure as the billows roll, fastened to the rock which cannot move, grounded firm and deep in the saviours love. So much about the thing I believe the most in life is being tested and shaken, this is a good thing. Walls crumble, grand statuary topples and falls, not one stone will be left on another...'all that we treasured lies in ruins' Plas Brodanw is haunting me at the moment. I tried to sketch the house, to capture something of the strength of it, and of the mountains beyond. But I have yet to get hold of it. Someone said to me this week that we have to make plans, otherwise there would be nothing to live for. This is a statement that I agree with. This is what drives most of us (if not all of us if we are honest) into the unknown days ahead. There are few certainties in life. Perhaps we avoid the emptiness by filling our days with plans. Pe...

Dear Monty, 'O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted. I will build you with stones of turquoise ' I have just returned from visiting Plas Brodanw and Plas yn Rhiw. Both gardens gave me hope for my own small plot, more than that, the vistas and portals gave a view beyond time to a place of comfort. Not that we are supposed to be comforted these days. Comfort came in the form of the welcome we received at Brodanw, and the apple and fudge cake. It was Charles Hawes veddw.com  who recommended a visit, and as we were staying in Beddgelert, it was on our doorstep. I have read comments by others who have visited this garden and the accurate assessment by Stephen Anderton in the book 'Discovering Welsh Gardens' but there is no substitute for experiencing the place for yourself. Clough Williams-Ellis it seems loved turquoise and vistas. The garden is architectural, which is what you would expect, but this man had a gift in carving out niches and co...

Dear Monty, Authenticity 'When a farmer ploughs for planting, does he plough continually ? does he keep breaking up and harrowing the soil?' I have been given an authentic original watercolour by the botanical artist Ann Shelley-Lloyd - in exchange for one of my fresco paintings of a Red Admiral. This exchange means more to me than the hundreds of pounds artists seem to charge for their work. Perhaps I have lost my sense of value in the world ? Authenticity was brought to mind by your reply to me about the fact that there is nothing false about the gardening we see on GW. I believe that this is true especially because you show us your failures. We see so much on TV that  feels inauthentic. I have at times lost hope. We have politicians, reporters and presenters trying to sound sincere. Financial institutions unmoved by corruption trying to sound moved. The soundbites make me nauseous. So many empty words, so much ploughing up and threshing of the same old tired ...