Letters to garden makers

Dear Monty, Storms. The dog sleeps with me At the end of my bed I snore And so does he We cancel each other out Sue sleeps undisturbed in her bedchamber Red and sunlit View over the mountain Toff and I walk the coal tip We admire unintended artworks formed by dumped builders rubble Brick and roof tile cairns Like graves of ancients We stroll around the old cemetery at the top of the hill Graves subsumed by brambles and ash trees We stop and watch the piglets in the field I find the grave of a former neighbour Laid to rest last year She visited parts of this world I will never see Now her remains lie here In this damp plot Already becoming entangled in brambles We are soon forgotten Ebola continues to kill the poor I go out and rake up leaves The clouds move fast Sunlight hits the hills in the distance ------------------------- 29 years together We strolled around through Herefordshire mists The gentle rolling...

Dear Monty, Grayson Perry as quoted in the Guardian magazine yesterday said that; 'Britain has the toad of irony sitting on it ' Making things that represent actual places or people are no longer valid in this 'contemporary' world. But October clears the air. Leaves crisply fall The light thins to a watery silver-gilt Blue eyes like crystal shine in it I must live on the other side of the valley The consuming passion consumed Leaving entrails in the wood The chainsaw rasps of dirt bikes And the whiff of petrol fumes Hang in the thin air Reds russets golds and yellows Trees reveal their shape Branches are lopped to reveal views The mountain turns gold I heed the rules The guide was consumed by them Before devouring my disobedience He swallows it down whole And creates a rest deeper than the roots of this mountain Deeper than any coal black hell ----------------------------- Here I sit with Ted Hughes and Shelley And the ...

Dear Monty, Leaves glow like stained glass. There is a warmth to Autumn that despite the thinning and falling - creates a sense of joy - berries and pine scents  - honeysuckled gloaming. The garden rescues me again from rabid thoughts - toxic attitudes - negativity. Cleaning up leaves raking the thinning grass I begin to see structure sparking new plans. The architecture of artemisia lactiflora begs division and multiplication. The newly revealed beds cry out for a mix of plants to form a block of differing height and texture. The evening draws in - my minds eye draws new spaces and new structures - planes and hollows. Trees to cut back - revelations. Paul

Dear Monty, I have heard you quote 'the law of diminishing returns' as a way of justifying the cutting back of flowering plants. I have been thinking about this and see that diminishing also applies to me as a human being and also to the change of the season from summer to autumn and on into winter. I diminish I grow older The sun sinks lower Autumn comes ------------------ Supper Around a table we discuss beauty We see each other as we are We decide we do not know how to define it But there are common threads To do with balance - harmony - form - structure Connectedness Indian summer Winter longs to break in Bone showing through the thinning skin of the year I hope not to appear foolish Beauty - lust - hedges - towers Life in all its tumult Art is a reflection of living It tries to make sense of the senseless That is what makes it beautiful Paul With thanks to Anne Wareham and Charles Hawes  vedd...

Dear Monty, From Waun Fawr Longmeadow looked lovely last night - edited and framed as it was by low angles. I have not tuned in to the new radio series of 'Shared Planet' yet, but understand the concerns that are highlighted and which drive us to find solutions. On a walk with Charles Hawes from Forest Coal Pit to Waun Fawr on the Black Mountains we contemplated the fate of our species and this planet we think we dominate - our conclusion was the inexorable drive towards human catastrophe! Cheering thought. It in no way phased us that we seemed to agree that we can do little - and we continue to piss into the gale - even though it splashes back in our faces. We laughed but not in an arrogant and ignorant way - we laughed because of the recognition of the fact that the universe and this planet will continue and change - we are but a destructive blip in the vastness of time. Charles Mountains and vistas Monks and mysteries Culture and ethnicity We w...

Dear Monty, I had a good weekend at the National Botanic Garden of Wales. The gardens are like a lung, there is an exchange of gases that takes place. Stress and weariness exchanged for rest and reflection. The Orchid Festival  Orchid scent and flowery people The gardens misted in an early Autumn cloak Quiet of butterflies. I did not sell any paintings - but I met some fascinating people with stories to tell both mystic and mundane, all had a love of nature, of plants and of art. Ideas were exchanged and contacts made. Polly O'Leary pollyoleary.co.uk  displayed beautiful original watercolours of botanical art.(I'm now a happy custodian of one of them) I feel excited - there are new ideas for my garden and artwork - all this a result of meeting new people and keeping in touch with good friends - of debating and discussing - of laughter and sorrow. Paul.

Dear Monty, The first egg of the morning The first grapes eaten by the chickens as a reward The first red admiral The first robin with his autumnal song. The first motorbike off-roading on the coal tip The first argument in the street The first barking of dogs The first vacuum cleaning of the day. Champions - Where are they ? Are they at they at the NATO summit ? Are politicians really the deciders of our fate ? What is the beauty of the morning ? Who is the bright and morning star ? Lift up your heads o you gates. I sit under my pagoda on my throne - surrounded by a drifting ethereal snow of willow herb seeds. I look up at mackerel clouds drifting towards Obama and the heads of state. John Kingdon once commented that the coal tip garden looks like a haven of peace. Yet unsilenced trial bikes fill the air with loud farts, and neighbours fire up electronic gardening tools and petrol driven mowers. The dog breeders chiwawa's snap, ...