Letters to garden makers

Dear Monty, I have been reading a Christmas gift during a period of enforced rest due to a small operation : And it has made me think. Rory Stuart introduces us to the question posed on the jacket of his book in his first chapter, where he focuses on the health giving and spiritual aspects of gardens, one of the passages which struck a chord with me was this : ' Children are often particularly sensitive to what we might clumsily call the spiritual emanations of nature, perhaps because they are uninstructed in science. ' This reliance on scientific analysis of every aspect of life has grown in intensity since the 'enlightenment'. As I have said before, we have all benefited in our physical lives from the advances made, and I'm not saying we should go back to ignorance. Stuart though poses a question which highlights our disconnect from our spiritual selves, only to swiftly move on in succeeding chapters to an almost scientific analysis/critiq...

Monty, Sometimes I get lost among the trees in the forest of opinion. Trees of different colour, size and shape; some barbed and tangled, others tall and straight. All trees, yes but all an expression of difference. There is a multiplicity of opinions, views and beliefs. The human mind is an incredible source of invention and creativity as well as one of hatred and mistrust. It is this forested garden of contradictions I push through almost daily. My mind is sometimes a confused garden, that is the truth. This confusion has recently been mirrored in debates on what gardening TV should look like. I'm glad the debate is happening, but am worried that the simplicity of being in contact with natural things, and marking the seasons which I think GW does well may become lost. I'm glad you replied so succinctly on  thephysicblog.blogspot.co.uk  and appreciate how hard it is to cater for so many different tastes and views. It is their multiplicity which is so bewilder...

Dear Monty, A dark day. The weather reflects the sombre mood in the valley. I am looking forward to the evening debate in London in February being organised by Lucy Masters via  thinkingardens.co.uk . I will sit quietly in awe of those who know more than me. I constantly struggle (as you now well know) with my self worth. There has always been something holding me back it seems, but these are just vapid thoughts. I know that I am linked to something greater outside of all these anxieties about being able to keep up with the latest thing. What I mean is there is more to life than that, and we get little glimpses of it every now and then, and I think gardens and art can lift us out of the awfulness of the thought of life being empty. This is the true value of making things, whether it be a painting, knitting a jumper, cooking a meal for friends, writing or making a garden. I worry a bit when it all becomes too pretentious. Gardening and creativity connect us to something...

Monty, There is a fear abroad about fixed and certain ideas or beliefs, but at the same time a deep longing for certainty in our lives. To have a fixed belief outside of science, is seen as a flaw. All our attempts at pinning down the mechanics of this living orb and the forces within and around it always get superseded. Ideas change continually. What is deemed true today will be seen not to be wholly true tomorrow. The questioning and unsettling of the sediments of our lives without any period of stability make us feel uneasy and prompt us to find fixed points. We need a sense of permanence in order to live. Even those of us who have no belief in a God see the benefit of having boundaries to our lives, fixed reference points which give a sense of safety. Talking about God arouses so many conflicting emotions from anger in regard to the suppression and hatred religion can stir up, to bliss in having an anchor point in a seemingly labile and turbulent worl...