Letters to garden makers

Dear Monty, I loved the sublime acanthus in the long walk, the wonderful thing for me was that you wait each year for it to have its moment. 21/7/14 Enemies are friends and they know it not. Sitting in the coal tip cloister garden in the cool of the day. If someone were to critique this small garden I imagine it being very negative, I know that criticism is good for you and helps you to grow, unless that is you have a surf-like mentality like mine. This is how I imagine the critique would go : From the front of the house (they call it a band hall, but it looks like an over sized pebble-dashed local authority bungalow) you would not guess that this place has a 'garden' of any merit whatsoever - and when you enter through the rear somewhat suburban and neglected rear gate - you come to that very conclusion. Almost instantly you see that there has been no attempt whatsoever at correcting some of the fatal flaws in the 'design'. There is very little money if a...

Dear Monty, I confess to untidiness - a lack of neatness - I notice that you have relaxed a bit too Monty. Perhaps it was enforced by the death of hedges, and sometimes it takes death or disaster to move us on, to accept and then to live with the consequences. Our destructive nature is yet again being illustrated - played out in the world - our world - this better world ? 15/7/14  Frustration melts - the garden absorbs me - time becomes timeless. 17/7/14  Death and terror - shock and awe ? - Hatred of our enemies. Has anyone ever achieved the love of their enemies, if ever there was a time for such a thing - it is now and forever will be. Are we really capable of creating paradise on earth ? Lasting peace ? 'Blessed are the peacemakers - for they shall see God' 18/7/14  Community - does community die with an increase in our individual standard of living ? Internet communities thrive, but to try and get people to work together in the 'real world' ...

Dear Monty, I have been walking the paths between Porthclais and St David's in Pembrokeshire. The paths themselves are like gardens; packed with wildflower communities and buzzing with insects. The coastal path too, although badly eroded in some places- has a varying set of habitats depending on the underlying rock and soil even within short distances. I have visited this place every year for the last 8 years with my son - it is a time to take stock, to reflect and to listen to one another - the landscape and environment facilitates reflection. This is a supernatural place. 5/7/14  Damp morning, the sky clears from the west with Piet Mondrian clouds. Tent zips unzip and bedraggled women in pj's and micro fleece scurry head down to the showers. An upright Dutchman mounts his bicycle with its old fashioned lamp reassuringly glowing yellow in the early light - not the harsh halogen blue of our digital age. How I yearn for lamps and soft light, for crows calls an...